The Astrum Mark
by Sises
Summary: Sixth year, a mysterious mark appears on Draco and Hermione, forming a connection between the two. Draco wants it to end, Hermione wants it to stay, and she isn't going to take no for an answer, no matter what. DracoHermione Read Review
1. A Walk To The Forest

A/N: _I felt like taking a bit of a break from All of Me, to write this one. Its going to be an Draco/Hermione fic just so you know, I hope you all enjoy it, please review and tell me your thoughts, good or bad. _

_ -Sises_

_ The Fates that be are at work on this day, an event that has been planned again and again. An event that has taken place for centuries is about to take place. New lines are about to be crossed, broken and re-written. For a Prophecy has been told that tells the near end of an old world, and the beginning of a new one._

_"On the eve of a great darkness  
a soul shall come together.  
Half touched by darkness, Half sought after by the light.  
None shall go their chosen path, for it shall make one anew.  
Love shall be the product of this union, strain with hardships and pain._

_None shall know peace or find rest until it is complete.  
The mark of the star shall light the path to find it._

_Broken long ago, shall now be made anew, both the old world and now the new."_

_The Astrum Mark_

Silence.

Utter silence, only broken by the sounds of bubbling cauldrons over hot fires and scribbling quills on dry parchment; just the way which Severus Snape like's it. The Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was infamous for his ruthlessness when it came to running his potions classrooms. Weather it's a class full of scared first years, young children some of which only discovered magic itself a few months prior; children who are scared to even breath much less cough in the dusty dark dungeon. Or advanced six years who are only months away from freedom, and are prone to slack off, pull a prank here and there, or take less then adequate notes when it comes to preparing for their exams. Severus Snape, otherwise know as Professor Snape (or just plain 'sir') as he instructs his students to call him at all times, holds all in the same standing, and at times expects the same level of professionalism and maturity with them. He is strict but still logical, handing out penalties when they are deserved, not bothering to give out rewards.

"The best and only reward you should and will ever achieve in this class is a well crafted potion, and a passing mark." Words that can be quoted directly from the Potions Master himself. Not a student who has had his class would doubt such a comment, it fits with his character perfectly.

It is because of these reasons that like her fellow Gryffindor's, Hermione Granger famous for being the Seventh Year Know-It-All Gryffindor Princess. (Not to mention best female friend of Harry Potter Boy-Who-Lived to boot) was being more then stone quiet. Her head was bent down as she finished taking notes on the Professors lecture. Her frizzy brown hair, wild and unmanageable was all over her head and back, hiding her from view just as much as it made her stand out among the class room full of students. All of which had relatively straight and well mannered hair. Out of all the sixteen students in the class room, only Harry's hair came anywhere close to being as unmanageable as Hermione Granger's. _But at least his looks good…Stupid hair is impossible to comb, magic or otherwise by itself…mix all these potions fumes in the air…all that moisture! May as well just strap a beaver to the back of my head…I probably look something like cousin It…._

Hermione finally finished up the rest of the notes she had been taking on the effect of will altering potions on human behavior, its positive effects, and negative ones. And though it wasn't specified by Professor Snape, she also took the initiative to also list other possibly effects given some common variables. Weather they were proven side effects, like how being pregnant can cause some mood changing potions to have much more drastic effects. Like dangerously high levels of euphoria or depression, with possibly violent and sudden mood swings between the two. Or not so proven side effects, like the ones from popular folk tales. Things similar to how supposedly soaking a cherished ones hair in a attraction potion, will alter the more uncontrollable effects of the potion, limiting its effects to the person who's hair was placed. Hermione had to laugh at the whole idea, of desperate witches and wizards mixing potions and casting spells to get the one their eye has been on for the last week. Hermione found the idea completely stupid, and a waste of time.

_If you really want something you either let it come to you, or you go and get it yourself._

Her straight forward way of getting what she wants was proven to even work on the opposite sex. Tired of waiting for Ron to grow up, and gain a backbone. Hermione had near the end of their fifth year, taken matters into her own hands. The whole of Gryffindor house seemed to breath with renowned happiness now that the "Two Most Stubborn People In The World" as they put it, finally got together.

Hermione smiled to herself at the memory of it. Sure it wasn't the way she would of preferred. But Hermione was not one to believe in destined love. If something was supposed to happen, then someone had to go about and do it. She figured, that love was not about to jump into her lap, and sadly neither was Ron. So Hermione took up a bit of her Gryffindor bravery, and a touch or two of her bossy attitude that she was known for, and had taken charge. Now some six months and running, Hermione was looking forward to seeing how things turned out between the two of them.  
Hermione glanced over at her somewhat less then dutiful boyfriend. And like usual he wasn't even taking notes, no instead he was saying something to Harry, the two of them looked like they were involved in a serious conversation for once. _One that I'm sure has nothing to do with school work, or learning at all…Don't boys talk about anything other then sports!_ picking up her wand, Hermione waved it towards the two of them from under the table. Ever mindful of Professor Snape she muttered a few words, and watched with a bit of glee when Harry's quill, as dry as it was when he had walked into the class room, pick itself right up off the table and start to peck at Harry's shoulder, looking something akin to a strange fluffy woodpecker.

Harry in shock had began to yell out in alarm, when he caught himself in time; remembering what class he happened to be in. Picking the quill up out of the air, he stopped Hermione's enchantment, giving a small glare over at her, he mouthed at her that she didn't have to do that.  
Hermione watched with amusement as Harry then started to work on his notes, followed quickly by Ron. Apparently what ever it was they had been talking about, wasn't so serious or important after all.  
Hermione being done with her notes for the day, was just sitting back in her chair, waiting for the rest of the class to finish their work so they could begin making some potions.

Looking around her Hermione noticed that she was the only one done with her work. All the rest of the students were silent as the dead as they concentrated on their work. Hermione actually found it soothing, the sound of quill's scratching on parchment. The bubbling of cauldrons, even Professor Snape, tapping his fingers on his desk as he looked through a potions book added to the melody of a quiet classroom. But Hermione lost the melody when her mind came to a halt. Over on the other side of the class room, the Slytherin side was one person who was also finished with their notes, Draco Malfoy.  
Hermione grit her teeth in annoyance, for the past few months and the majority of their fifth year, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were in competition for top grades in their class, along side Terry Boot of Ravenclaw. To the Gryffindor's their was no surprise to them why Hermione would strive for the top place, she was of course Hermione Granger, anything less then the best for her must be sacrilegious. While the Slytherin's knew that Draco Malfoy was out to prove that he was not only the best student in Slytherin house, but the best in the whole school as well. No doubt a chance to show off his pureblood supremacy, and boost his family name as well. Terry Boot was more then obvious, he was a Ravenclaw, all of Ravenclaw house is in competition with someone to be the best at something, it was a part of their house conduct. But the truth is always more then one first suspects.

Hermione does not just want to get top scores for the hell of it, nor does she just want it to make herself a shoe in for the position of Head Girl next year. She truthfully doesn't even care about Terry Boot, he's just a Ravenclaw, the Gryffindor's have no feud with them. No this was about house honor, and personal rights. Draco Malfoy stood for everything Hermione Granger did not, he was egotistical, cruel, spoiled, the son of a Death Eater, A likely Death Eater himself, or possibly just a wannabe Death Eater, and a Slytherin as well. To Hermione, if she could get top grades, beat the pants off of Draco Malfoy, then their couldn't possibly be any basis, even with their prejudice processing, that they could find her a muggleborn inferior. How can a mudblood be weak and less then a pureblood, if she's smarter then one? And not just any pureblood , but the heir to the Malfoy family itself. Infamous for being the most pure in all of the British Wizarding World. _Pompous git…blonde hinkypunk. I'm not about to be shown up by him._  
Hermione smiled to herself just at the idea of becoming head girl, of showing up the blonde haired fool…of getting all her revenge for the insults and all the "dirty mudblood" remarks, all in one fell swoop.

She watched him for a moment, just out of the corner of her eye, she kept her body straight and her head in the general direction of the Professor just in case anyone was watching. She didn't need anyone to know that she was observing her rival. She watched as he continued to just lay back in his chair as if he didn't have a care in the world, he would every once in a while glance around the room, staring more at the Gryffindor's section then any, careful to add a well placed sneer or raised eyebrow. Hermione was sure to actually look away if his eyes ever came her direction. It would be bad indeed if Harry or Ron saw her watching their six year nemesis without a look of absolute horror or revulsion on her face, it would be much worse if Malfoy saw it.

True, Hermione Granger did not absolutely hate the ground Draco Malfoy touched, she didn't hate him with every fiber of her being, or wish unspeakable horrors upon him. Not only did Hermione consider herself above something as childish as a school yard rivalry, but she reserved such supreme hate for those who truly deserved it. Sadly Hermione had no proof that Draco Malfoy actually was a death Eater, or that he has done anything truly horrible, so she couldn't justify herself hating someone without a real reason too. But he did annoy her greatly, she continued to watch him as he moved his hand through his hair, a few strands of it had apparently fallen down over his face. She watched as he smoothed it back into perfection once more. _ Conceited Git…spoiled pretty boy…what does he think? That every girl within a hundred feet is going to swoon just because he has well groomed hair? Does he think his hair is that good? Or that he is? No one would be stupid enough to think him so great!_

Hermione had more then once rolled her eyes at the antics of one Draco Malfoy. The way he always had to drawl out his words, pronouncing every word as if it was a command, annunciating his every word, almost to the point that it might as well have a second meaning to him, it was so important. And sadly every time Hermione thought she had come closer to understanding her enemy, to seeing what it was that caused him to beat her score here and there, her concentration was dulled by sheer stupidity herself. In the middle of her observing her eyes were brought away from the blonde boy when the class rung with the sound of a huge explosion of what Hermione called "Stupidity in human form."

"Yes! I'm finally done." An ear shattering voice ringing through a silent room was much less then comfortable. But comfortable and Pansy Parkinson are words that never go together in the same sentence properly. The whole class seemed to wince at once as the ringing subsided in their head, even professor Snape was not immune to such a harpy. He was quick to remind Parkinson of how he loved silence so, and if she interrupted the class again he would personally show her what it was like to be mute. Hermione silently prayed that Pansy had gotten lost somewhere in the large words and found herself unable to speak for the next two years. But apparently somewhere the threat had actually gotten through her bubbly blonde hair, and into her empty skull. It was with a disappointed sigh that Hermione returned her gaze at Malfoy. All the while thinking how unfair it was that a Slytherin, especially one as annoying as Parkinson, would just get a threat from Professor Snape. Yet, had it been a Gryffindor, he would of gotten a detention at least, and any warnings would have been non-vocal hand movements as Snape reached for his wand.

There are some things in the world that Hermione Granger will never understand, one is how Professor Snape was and still is allowed to teach at Hogwarts when he is so severely prejudice against three of the houses, Gryffindor's especially. The other would be how anyone in their right mind could possibly find Draco Malfoy something other then a worm.

Here they were, Sixth years in their potions class, during an extensive note writing paper, with explanations and references to some five potions, and all of their ingredients. And Hermione had to be the only person with nothing to do, as the only other two students finished were currently flirting so heavily, she wouldn't of been surprised if they got up to excuse themselves for a restroom 'break'.

_ If I thought Pansy was stupid before she started lusting after the ferret, then she's breaking a record now. How could anyone in their mind be attracted to such a blonde headed bastard such as him? He's not even good looking for Merlin sake!_  
Here Hermione had to stop herself mid thought to look once again at her rival. _Blonde hair, Grey silver eyes, tall, well built for a quidditch seeker, small muscles just in the right places, nothing too bulgy or bulky. Definitely not an ox, more of a well toned Stag….ok ok ok! So maybe he's a bit attractive, I can give the bastard that, but really all he is, is a decent body and money. Probably the reason he's getting such good grades in the first place, giving donations to the school or something. Or maybe he's just hiring expensive tutors to get him through his courses? Hmm…wouldn't that be something to shove in his face. Stupid Ferret can't even do his own work with his own wits, has to pay someone else to whip his mind into shape._

Hermione continued to think up even more unlikely situations, up to and including Professor Snape owing the Malfoy family a large amount of money, and that being the reason why he shows such kindness to the son of a well known Death Eater. She could of gone on for hours probably at the rate her mind worked, if it wasn't for Professor Snape himself finally standing up and ending what seemed like hours of perpetual silence.  
"Everyone put your quill's down now, if anyone is un-lucky enough as to not have copied all your effects and variables, then you will be solely out of luck today."

The class all notable sighed together, Hermione noticed both Harry and Ron looking somewhat apprehensive as they got all their parchment together, no doubt neither of them had come very close to finishing. Snape gave only a second for the class to get reorganized before he continued with the next half of the lesson.

"As even the most absent minded of you lot should be aware by now. Today is May eve, known more popularly in the Wizarding world as Beltain. Tonight is one of the most powerful days when it comes to using magic, being only second to Halloween. Beltain is a powerful day when it comes to charms, weather for protection or animation. Magic is in the air tonight, and spells of this nature generally will become much more powerful and effective once the sun has begun to set."

Hermione herself knew a thing or two about Beltain night, though she had never actually used its magical benefits in her own research or work. Finding herself an adapt at Transfiguration the class taught by her beloved Professor McGonagall. The unique magic of Beltain was more enchanting to talk about for her then for practical use.   
"But for this class most importantly, Beltain is the most important night for gathering some of the most powerful and rare ingredients. Nightshade, Moonblow leave, Red Salax petals. Many of the potions that are key ingredients to today's potions can only be fully initialized if they are gathered early tonight and used before the next dawn. Some of them can only be used tonight, and will either have no magical properties tomorrow, or will simple disappear with the first touch of sunlight upon them."Snape moved forward around his desk and waved his wand at the large chalk board in front of the class room. At once all the notes on the several potions they had been dutifully copying disappeared. The only thing that remained was the names of the potions themselves, and their unique effects.

"Today all of you are going to choose one of these potions to create, each one of them needs increasing amounts of ingredients that can only be collected tonight at sundown. The Potions with the least of the key ingredients will be worth the least amount of points. For those of you who are in need of more then the average amount of points to increase your grade in my class. Which potion you do is up to you, and make your decision wisely, as I will not allow you to change once you have decided, under any circumstances. You must collect all ingredients, prepare the potion correctly and completely. For any points to be bestowed, I must have a sample of your potion, and a list of effects you experienced while under it."  
Snape looked at each students face briefly, all of them showing similar looks of excitement and interest on their face as they looked at the board, and the five potions. His gaze wandered over to the Gryffindor section of the class.

"Yes you must all test your potion, I find this an incentive for students to actually make something right for once. Now you all have until the end of this class. Which is…In two minutes, to decided what potion you will make, be sure to have a good reason behind it, I won't except because it's easy or it sounds fun to be anything near adequate. You are sixth years, so act like it." The Professors emotionless face, turned to one of amusement, a smirk on it. "Though I am not above handing out a few bits of advice…"

"Whomever is partnered with Longbottom, I suggest you either chose the easiest of potions today, or do it completely yourself…any slight miscalculations due to a blundering partner, will spell disaster for your potion, and your grade as well." The Slytherin's were quick to chuckle, as Neville took the insult with a calm face, finally used to such treatment from the Potions Master. Hermione though still thought the Professor to be nothing more then the king of snakes, a vile serpent no matter his credentials. Snape took a moment to speak more ineptly about the potion, their names and common uses, and who was credited with creating which.

Hermione had only somewhat listened to the Professors speech, instead taking her time to look over the list of potions. She skipped over the first three, finding them all too easy, and not worth the time or the points to miss most of her night brewing. It all came down to the last two, one of which was noticeably easier, and might actually come in handy if not just be incredibly interesting to experience. And the other which was so entirely useless Hermione couldn't believe that professor Snape was offering it.

"The last two of the potions are the ones who I will only allow the most experienced of you to even attempt, as it can lead to nothing less then a complete waste of mine time for amateurs to try. The first of this is the fabled Vision of the Fairies Potion, known as Evoco Aspectus said to give the drinker the sight of the Fae, allowing them to see what we cannot, possibly side effects are seeing the essence of Magic itself, and or seeing the Gods." You didn't need to be the smartest witch in Hogwarts to hear the sarcasm dripping from Snape's mouth.  
" Trust me that anything you see under this potion, is nothing more then intense hallucinations most likely due to the effects of the poppy seed, and nightshade mixed together." Hermione was too busy paying attention, her mind on the parchment in front of her, as she copied down everything she knew about the last two potions.

_Evoco Aspectus  
Potion of the Fae, imbues drinker with sight of a otherworldly creature, allowing you to see beyond the barrier of the physical world.  
Non-Confirmed  
_

_Metoninosus  
Potion of Attraction, supposedly able to bring about intense feelings of attraction and longing, even when such feelings were never their in the first (but out of common use, due to complicated and delicately-unstable brewing process)_

"The Metoninosus Potion is regrettably a requirement for seventh years to at least be allowed to attempt. If it was not such, I would never allow its name in my classroom." Snape's voiced was dripping with the utmost distain, distain he usually saved for Gryffindors, and Harry.  
"It is entirely useless, and I would suggest that no one attempts such a potion, not only will you most likely fail, but even if you succeed, it is a waste of both your time and mine…"

Hermione for once found herself agreeing with the surly potions professor, she knew that Metoninosus was one potion she would never brew in her life, not to mention even think of sampling…the idea was just plain stupid.

"Granger where are we going?" This was the fifth time since they had left the castle gates that Draco had asked that question. Hermione thought he would eventually get tired of it, or he would just figure it out for himself, but apparently neither seemed to be happening.

"Granger…how many times do I have to ask, before you tell me, where it is that we are currently walking at this moment in time?" Hermione couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes, the Malfoy drawl was particularly annoying when he spread it out so much, annunciating every single bloody word.

"Malfoy why don't you take an educated guess as to where we're going? Its night, it's the eve of Beltain, and theirs a big dark forest on the horizon, getting bigger and bigger as we continue to move…now do you have a good idea of where it is we're going?" Hermione could almost hear Malfoy grit his teeth in annoyance at being talked to like a child, it brought a smile to her face, to think she had gotten one up on the blonde prick.

It was a short lived smile though, as Hermione felt herself catch her foot on something, momentum caused her upper body to continue moving, while her feet were stuck in place, she tumbled over herself, and went crashing to the ground, the wet grass clinging to her clothes, adding a bit of insult to her newest injury.

" That's a new way to stop yourself Granger, is it a muggle trick? Looks painful, wouldn't it of been easier to just, stop moving…Did you have to throw yourself on the ground?" Hermione let a large breath of air out of her mouth, her frustration evident. Picking herself up, she tried to brush off most of the grass, but they were even clinging to her hands.

"Malfoy do shut up, its late, and I would much prefer it if we could complete this project before dawn, and without killing one another…murder doesn't look good on the record you know." Annoyed with the small progress she was making on the grass removal, Hermione grabbed her wand, and with a few whispered words, her clothes were now grass free, and spotless. She always hated using magic for such mundane things…seemed an insulting way to use such a wonderful gift. That's your muggle thinking Hermione, you're a witch, its not a gift, its as common as having hair on your head…No matter how much she tried, Hermione couldn't get rid of all of her muggle upbringing, she didn't want to personally, but her heritage clashed with her chosen world more and more the older she got.

"Well then maybe you could make it easy on both of us, and tell me what it is that we are doing? Obviously we're heading off into the forest, to work on a potions project, but maybe if you told me what potion Snape felt he needed to assign to us, I can actually do something…instead of letting a know it all mudblood mess it up!" Malfoy seemed to not know when to stop, his cocky attitude and his patented smirk though were soon erased from his face when Hermione's fist collided with his jaw.

"SHIT! What the fuck…D-did you just punch me Granger!" Hermione gave him a little smirk of her own, she was very tired, and this "project" was already getting on her nerves, and they hadn't even started it yet.

"Yes I punched you Ferret, slapping is for third years, this seemed like a better idea, and it felt so much better." Hermione though wouldn't let him know just how hard his jaw was…her hand was now aching horribly…she hoped she hadn't broken anything.

Draco took a moment to collect his thoughts, as he rubbed his jaw with one hand, his other he slowly held behind his back. Hermione glanced over and saw that he was going for his wand. Forgetting her aching hand, Hermione whipped out her wand just as he got a hold of his. She pointed it directly into the blonde's face, like a sword she held it threateningly just an inch from his face.

"I've had it up to here with your shit Malfoy, one more move on your part, one more 'Mudblood' one more comment from your snake of a mouth, and I will hex you into an unrecognizable lump of a slug. Don't even think of using one more smart ass comment, or crack at my parents, or anything…its better if you don't eve say a word unless spoken too. Act like a good little death eater wannabe, and be the servant you are!"

Hermione felt a bit of a rush when she threatened him, she knew her anger, but mostly her lack of a patience tonight was the cause of it all…but it sure felt good. She could see the first flicker of fear in his eyes, before he held in behind his mask of indifference. But she knew she saw it, no one at Hogwarts was willing to go up against a fully pissed off Hermione, everyone knew how gifted she was. But when she said the words Death Eater, something changed, it wasn't until she had finished her sentence that she could see it. Malfoy's eyes were no longer calm, they were swirling with anger, Hermione's hand faltered a bit as a breeze swept past her, her hair moving along with it._ Is that the wind? Or is Draco really that angry?_ Hermione decided not to tempt fate, and removed her wand from his face, turning around Hermione started to walk again, south away from the school…into the very heart of the Forbidden forest.

"We're going to make Metoninosus you and I, Malfoy, we're going to make the lust potion."


	2. The Moon's Mark

A/N: I would like to thank all those people who reviewd the first chapter, I didn't expect to get three review so fast, so I wrote this up to thank you, keep reviewing, and I should keep writing. Enjoy, -Sises

The sixth year Gryffindor and Slytherin potions class was now officially over, and already half the students had rushed out of the room, with the other close behind. Snape was busy writing down which group was to make which potion, as he finished writing the last of the groups down, he noticed something was amiss.

"Professor? I wanted to let you know, I plan on making the Aspectus Potion." Snape glanced up from his parchment to see Hermione Granger standing in front of him, a peculiar look of determination on her face. _How strange_…

"And who is the lucky fool who gets to 'help' you on such potion?" The Gryffindor glanced around a bit, as if thinking the answer was writing on the wall as plain as day.  
"Um Professor, I don't plan on having a partner, I would like to complete this on my own." Snape raised a black eyebrow at this.

"Miss Granger, I specifically said that all potions are to be down in pairs, no one, not even an smart little know it all such as yourself will do any of these potions on your own." Hermione opened her mouth, but nothing came out, it seems that she was speechless for once. "Well then we might have a problem professor, because everyone else is already in pair's, theirs no one left for me to work with."

Snape gave out what could almost be mistaken as a laugh as he looked at the young woman before him. "For once you are wrong miss Granger." looking over her shoulder Snape raised his voice just enough for it to carry across the room.

"Mr. Malfoy? Please wait outside my class room, I have something to discuss with miss Granger here." Hermione felt her insides go cold, she didn't know Malfoy was still in the room…_Malfoy? Please tell me that he has a partner, and that Snape just didn't want him to hear whatever he's going to say…_Snape waited until the door was securely latched before he started again.

"Miss Granger, as unfortunate as it is, it seems that you and Mr. Malfoy will have to work together to complete your potion, as you are the only two left." Hermione would of screamed her outrage had she been talking to anyone else. Though she fully trusted Severus Snape as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, she still knew him to be a dangerous, and very angry man. Provoking him to violence, was not something she ever wanted to do.

" But Professor! You know how Malfoy and I are? We wouldn't get anything done, we'd be fighting the whole time, there's a better chance of both of us going to the hospital wing then completing anything together." Now Hermione was definitely sure she saw a smile on the mans face, but having never seen such a thing, she couldn't know precisely.

"Never the less Miss Granger, you are the only two students left, so you will have to work together. Let's hope your Gryffindor's hatred for all that is Slytherin will not interfere with your need to keep a perfect grade. As I said before, you both must work on the potion equally, and I must have two samples given to me, as well as a list of effects the two of you sustained." Hermione felt her stomach disappearing as the seconds past…her night had looked mildly entertaining before, when it was just her making an interesting potion. But now all interest and academics had disappeared when she imagined it spent with Malfoy. _its my own personal Hell. Trying to learn with a smart assed pureblood whispering 'mudblood, mudblood' over and over, until I snap. _Though she hated to do it, Hermione had to admit defeat…she couldn't argue with a teacher, no matter how much she hated them.

"Very well Professor, I'll go let Malfoy know that we have to make the Aspectus potion…together." As she ran to leave, Snape ordered her to stop where she was. She had barley made it four feet.

"That, is the matter that I wished to discuss with you." Hermione now look at Snape with genuine confusion on her face. _What first I can't work alone, now I can't make the potion I want?_

"Though it does not surprise me in the least, not a single person opted to make the Metoninosus Potion. Now if the rules were up to me, then I would have no problem erasing such a potion from the very walls of this classroom…but Ministry law states that I must have one sixth year class brew it." Hermione didn't know who she wanted to curse more, the ministry for creating such a stupid rule, Snape for enforcing it, or Malfoy, for his mere existence. "So I will have to deny your request to make the Aspectus."

"You want me and Malfoy to brew Metoninosus?"

Snape rolled his eyes, already annoyed by the girl.

"Yes Miss Granger, that is what I want you to brew."

"But that's a _Lust_ Potion!"

Snape moved his hands up to massage his temples, a strong headache was started to move through his head.  
"I am well aware of that." Something about the situation had still failed to register with Hermione, who's mind was apparently stuck, and on repeat.

"You want Malfoy and I to make a lust potion? But what about the effects? We hate each other!"  
Snape's patience with the girl had finally broke. His hands slipped from his head, and slammed against his desk. The sudden noise cause Hermione to jump in surprise.

"Then the two of you shall have no problem with said effects, if your mutual distain for one another is so great, then not even a potion as powerful as this is supposedly is, will effect you at all." Hermione's mouth was open in surprise. Snape was now outright glaring at her, his black eyes staring at her, unblinkingly.

"Now leave me alone girl, finish the damn potion, and have it to me by next class. Leave now!" Hermione didn't need to be told twice, turning on the spot she ran towards the door, and didn't slow until she had it latched behind her. She allowed herself to catch a few deep breaths before she thought about what had just happened. _I just pissed Snape off, Severus Snape is pissed, a teacher is pissed…what else can go wrong tonight?_

"So what does Snape want to talk with me about." Hermione groaned outright, she had forgotten that he was even their, but such a thing didn't last too long. Draco Malfoy stood leaning against the wall, just feet from the door, smirk in place, with his perfected drawl.

"Speak up Granger, I need to go start work on my potion."

"What are you talking about Granger?" Hermione didn't answer though she just continued to walk into the depths of the forest.

The woods were just starting, but they were already thick. Huge tree's like California Redwoods were sprawled out all over the place, roots the size of small pines moved in and out of the ground, making the walking less the enjoyable. _And then there's the thorn bushes…_Numerous bushes encased in thorns lay about the floor, some growing up tree's, others just covering the ground.

It was a few minutes before Hermione found herself in a clearing, the light of the full moon shone around, giving the place an eerie and yet also peaceful feelings. She thought it might be a romantic sight, had it not been in the middle of a dark forest, with an asshole for company.

Looking behind herself for said asshole, she noticed that he had kept on her tail the whole way. He now stood propped up against a tree, watching her with a look of annoyance.

"Going to tell me why we have to work together, and make the stupidest potion the world has ever seen to boot?" The moon lit night calmed down Hermione a bit, the small breeze blowing through the forest made her feel at peace. She wasn't going to waste time wondering why.

"We have to work together because apparently we were the only ones left, and under no circumstances are we allowed to work alone. And we have to make this stupid potion, because Snape is a bastard."

Silence filled the clearing for a moment, and it was Malfoy who eventually broke it, with a snort of laughter. "D-did you just call Snape a bastard!" his laughs of amusement were strange, not at all like the laugh he used for when he was taunting someone, less drawl in them. Hermione though had the grace to blush at being caught, she had call him a bastard hadn't she…_I insulted a teacher…oh I could get in so much trouble for doing that…_

"Well its true…" she mumbled quietly to herself. Though not quiet enough as judging by his renowned bout of laughing the ferret had heard her. _Damn him…its not that funny anyways…_

"That is one of the funniest things I've heard in a while…little miss know it all, actually called a teacher a bad word…and here I thought you worshiped them all?" Hermione just glared at the blonde, too busy getting things ready to waste anymore breath on him.

The time seemed to move by slowly, eventually the two teenagers had started to get to work, Hermione eventually telling Draco the whole story behind their forced teamwork. Afterwards Malfoy took the time to cut, mash, and otherwise prepare all the ingredients so perfectly that Hermione had to admit was better then what she could of done. The two worked in silence, neither one of them wanted to say anything that would disrupt their work, and therefore their grade, so they kept silent, only speaking when absolutely necessary.

The hours slowly crept by, the night became colder, as the peaceful draft that Hermione had felt before, became colder. Hermione noticed herself shiver every once in a while, she huddled closer to their potions fire, hoping it would giver her some warmth.

Hermione checked the directions for the fifth time or so that night, she had just added the willowswept berries, and now she just had to wait for the potion to turn an light lavender. _Then we add the last ingredient, the South American crimson cashews. _Hermione felt a small laugh come up, and couldn't help but giggle just a bit. The name of the small little red nut, always made her laugh, she wasn't sure why. But ever since she had heard it, she couldn't help herself from giggling just once at the mention of it.

Hermione tried not to look over at Malfoy, who was preparing said cashews, she didn't want to know whether or not he had heard her little laugh.

"How much longer until its finished Granger?" Hermione almost jumped at the sound of his voice, it had been at least an hour that the two hadn't said a word to one another, the only sound had been the crackling of the fire, and the sound of the wind rushing through the woods. It almost felt strange to Hermione, to hear another person's voice.

"All we have to do is add the cashews, and let it turn to a dark red, then we let it cool under the light of the moon, and we're good to try it." Malfoy just nodded, intent on splitting the cashews as closely into equal halves as he could. When he finished he moved over towards Hermione and dropping them slowly into the boiling cauldron. The two of them watched as the potion started to swirl angrily, small amounts of smoke came off it, as the potion bubbled and churned.

"Its almost beautiful, so angry looking, almost powerful, like a red thunderstorm…" Hermione hadn't known she had spoken out loud until she heard Malfoy's snort.

"The moon light turning you into a poet Granger? Are you going to start reciting some love sonnets for yours truly?" His laugh just made what was left of Hermione's patience inch slowly to the breaking point.

"Shove it up your ass Malfoy, its too late to have to deal with you." Malfoy's answer was just another amused laugh in her direction, as he moved back to sit next to a tree, his back propped up against it, facing Hermione and their potion.

Hermione was only too glad for him to move away, this was the most amount of time she had ever been with Malfoy ever before, and she was alone for it all. Though she knew things could have been much worse, she was still unnerved about how long they had been in the clearing together. _What time is it anyways?_ Reaching down to pull up her sleeve, Hermione looked at her watch, and almost gasped out loud at what was displayed.

_11:47 p.m._

_Is it that late already? Its almost midnight…hmm tomorrows Beltain, I wonder if Ron is planning something for me?_ Hermione allowed herself to drift into a bit of a day dream, where her loving boyfriend was more of a romantic, and less of a gentlemen. Hermione felt guilty every time she thought about it, but she wasn't completely happy with the way her relationship with Ron was going. Yes she had felt like it was great in the beginning, but something had been missing since even then. Hermione had thought it was love, and that it would be filled once she truly fell in love with the bumbling red head. But lately she had begun to understand what it actually was.

_Attraction…_Hermione and Ron having dated for several months, had several times found themselves alone and trying to snog the life out of each other. Ron seemed to be more then enjoying himself, if the way his hands moved around on her body, and the hardness pressing into her had been any indication, but Hermione herself had felt very little, if anything.

_Ron just needs to be spontaneous and sweep me off my feet or something, be a bit more decisive, bit more dashing, bit more handsome…wait what?_ Hermione felt guilt rush into her at the thoughts she was having…_handsome? But Ron is good looking, he's great looking really, I mean he's nice and tall, and….he's hot truthfully…with his…and….um. Shit…_

Hermione felt her face turn red in embarrassment, she buried her burning cheeks in her hands, as her mind ran back and forth without pause. _Do I even think he's good looking? I mean, yeah I care about him a lot, we've been the greatest of friends and all…but…what's going on with me? Why do I just now seem to know that this whole time the problem had been me? What's wrong with me, Ron is perfect for me, he's the greatest…why don't I find him attractive? _Hermione was given no time to further dissect her newest epiphany, as she felt something prod her in the shoulder rather roughly. Turning around quickly she looked up to see Malfoy look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Its not time to sleep yet Granger, the potion's going to be ready any minute now, and then we have to test it remember?"

Hermione nodded, more to herself to him. She gave herself a second to move her thoughts about he relationship and Ron to the back of her mind, she would deal with all that in the morning. But first she had to finish this if she was even going to have a morning. _No doubt Snape would kill me himself if I just walked out on this…damn Snape and his stupid class, damn me for needed to be perfect in everything…_

Moving over to her potions book, Hermione dusted a few bits of leaves, and dirt off the pages, before reading over the directions for what she hoped was the last time. Checking all the steps mentally as she read them, she looked back and forth between the potion and her book, check the consistency, the color variation, and even the time, to make sure everything was perfect. And as well as she could tell, it was. It was a dark Crimson, that seemed to reflect light in them, like liquid Ruby. Hermione couldn't tell if the shapes she saw in the potion were reflections from within the cauldron, or from without.

"So is it done? Did we do it right?" Malfoy's voice was noticeably lacking its usual drawl, curious Hermione was tempted to ask what was wrong with him. But refrained, they were so close to completion it would be stupid to ruin it all when they were almost done. _He must just be tired or something….though I always thought Ferrets were nocturnal…_

"Yeah, its almost done, we just need it to cool in the moon light, should only take a few minutes, then we can test it." Taking out her wand, Hermione spelled the fire away, letting the cauldrons bubbling interior fill the clearing, the only mistakable sound besides the occasional gust of wind, which had died down some time ago, the night was much warmer now. Hermione was confused as to how she should allow the next few minutes to pass, normally some small talk would help it all to pass quickly enough, but present company shot that idea down before it even got off the ground. _Well guess I'll just have to sit patiently…_

It only took two minutes before one of the two lost their patience with the silence, and proceeded to hum a song that only they could hear, their fingers tapping themselves to an inaudible beat on a potions book.

"Granger will you stop with the humming, its atrocious." Hermione just stuck her tongue out at Malfoy, a move that surprised the both of them. Even she didn't know why she chose to be so childish at a time like this. "Fine then, I won't hum…" Malfoy seemed to sigh in relief,

"I'll sing." she replied in a cheeky tone.

Malfoy just groaned out loud this time, but Hermione didn't pay him any mind, she was bored, and had a few minutes still until their potion was cool.

Her voice started out slow, and quiet, barley heard past the potion, or the tree's, like a ghost or a slight draft of wind, it drifted out through the forest.

"How can you see into my eyes… like open doors."

"Leading you down into my core, where I've become so numb…"

"Granger if you sing one more verse of whatever stupid muggle shit your singing, I will personally knock our potion to the ground, and force you to fail." Hermione stopped, but not without a small laugh to herself. She knew that Draco wouldn't ruin his own grade just to see hers ruined, but she just found it fun to annoy him. "Alright Malfoy, calm down. Don't get your knickers in a twist…besides the potion should be ready now…lets get this over with so we can all go to bed."

Moving towards the potion Hermione was the first to get their, she slowly ladled a bit into a small glass vial, looking at the way it seemed to shine even when being poured. She only half heard her watch chime the new hour as she began took one last look at her potion.

"Are you ready Malfoy? Lets just do this and go back home." Looking closer at her potion, Hermione noticed that it looked a bit strange…_Oh please don't say we did something wrong…its too late for all this to be a big waste of time. _

"The potion looks a bit strange Malfoy, bit too red I think…Malfoy what do you-"

"Its not the potion Granger…it's the moon!"_What in Merlin's name is he talking about?_ turning around Hermione noticed that something was wrong, the forest wasn't just dark anymore, it had a strange red tint. Even Malfoy seemed to be bathed in red, Hermione was startled to say the least, but when she saw Draco only half way to the potion, stopped in the middle of the clearing, his mouth open in surprise, as he looked up towards the heavens; Hermione knew something was wrong.

Looking skyward Hermione gasped out loud. The sky was no longer just filled with twinkling stars, and a full moon, it was a strange mesh of white and red stars, and a very red moon. _It looks like its covered in blood!_ For the first time tonight, Hermione felt completely scared, fully, totally, scared and confused. Not even with Malfoy's anger had she been this scared, in the middle of the dark forest with a blood red moon above her, Hermione Granger had no idea what else to do, except stare in absolute awe and shock. _What in the world is going on?_

She didn't know how long she had started at the moon, but after what seemed like a second, and yet felt like a year, Hermione's vision went white. The Forest, the clearing, the stars and the moon itself disappeared in a flash of blinding white light, so bright when it ended Hermione's eyes were closed tightly in pain.

"Ahh, what the fuck was that!"

Hermione guess that it was Malfoy who had yelled out in pain, but she was so disoriented from the bright flash that she couldn't of been sure. She probably wouldn't even had known if a rampaging herd of cows had past through the clearing at this moment, all she could so was rub at her eyes, trying to get them to open without burning. "Malfoy can you see anything!" Hermione had dropped to her knee's, and tried to press her head as close to her chest as she could, her temporary blindness seemed to have heightened her senses, as the ground felt very cold and wet, almost as if she didn't have any clothes on at all, and was just feeling it all through nothing more then her bare skin.

"Granger…what the hell just happened…what was that flash…why can't I see anything?"

"I don't know…I can't see anything either…I think we're just suffering from the flash…I mean we're not blind right?" Hermione didn't want to acknowledge the way her voice wavered as she tried to finish her sentence, her fear was making her eyes burn even more, as tears slipped past her eyelids."

"No we can't be blind…my eyes are starting to see something, but its hard to keep them open…"

Hermione eventually found herself able to slowly open her eyes. Her vision was very blurry, a mix of tears and eye strain caused her eyes to hurt whenever she tried to focus. Taking a few seconds to whip away all her tears, Hermione felt her vision come back fully.

Nothing had changed, the forest, the clearing, even the potion was completely the same. All except for her potion vial which had fallen to the forest floor, luckily it hadn't broken as he landed on the wet grass below. Turning around Hermione looked around for Malfoy, she found him, not too far away from where he had been staring open mouthed at the moon. Hermione took a quick glance to the heavens to see that everything was completely normal, when her eyes reverted back to Malfoy in surprise. She thought it had just been a trick of the eye, but now she saw in surprise and shock something she never thought she would ever see.

Draco Malfoy was completely, and utterly naked.

Hermione felt herself blush as she look at him, his skin was apparently pale all the way through, from his feet to his silver blonde hair. Hermione saw that really was relatively well toned in the chest and arms. _His legs aren't too bad either and that tattoo on his chest, nice….and…My My… Mr. Malfoy it seems you truly are blessed with everything, not just money._ Hermione felt herself blush even more when she caught sight of his manhood, looking up to face him. Hermione noticed that he had finally got his eyes to open, and was now staring at her as well, a look of confusion on his face.

"Malfoy…why are you naked?" Hermione tried her best to ask the question in a very monotone way. Though she didn't particularly like the ferret, she wasn't the type to embarrass someone in such a situation that was embarrassing enough. Malfoy seemed to shake his head a bit back and forth, clearing the confusion from his face it looked like. Looking down at himself, he looked even more confused, before turning to face Hermione again. "You know I could ask you the same question Granger…"

Hermione's eyes widened, looking down for just a split second, Hermione saw what she feared…she was also completely naked, not a shred of clothing on her. _Oh my God where are my clothes! Why are we naked!….Oh my God Malfoy's looking at me while I'm naked! _ Hermione with a scream was quick to jump back into the woods, to hide herself behind a tree.

"What the hell is going on Malfoy!" Hermione was looking frantically back and forth, trying to find her clothing. _Why, how, could my clothes just disappear! What's going on?_ Hermione tried to think of a spell that could get her out of the single most embarrassing situation that has ever happened to her, when Malfoy began talking to her.

"Granger come out from that tree, so we can talk about this, and figure out the fuck is going on."

"I'm naked you pervert, I'm not coming out so you can ogle my body you sick minded little f-"

"You stupid mudblood, conjure a blanket and cover yourself! What the hell do you think you have a wand for!" Hermione felt like smacking herself. Quickly conjuring an entire king size comforter she wrapped it around herself several times, and even used her want to sew it shut just so she didn't have to keep it together herself.

Moving out from her little hiding place, Hermione looked over and noticed that Malfoy was dressed in a similar quilt, though much smaller, and more resembling a skirt or a kilt. Hermione felt almost foolish, if not jealous that she had to cover her entire body, and resemble some kind of deranged marshmallow, when he just has to wear a heavy kilt.

" That suits you Granger…you look quite like the house elf's you love so much." Hermione raised her wand and with a wave sent a jet of red light towards Malfoy. Not expecting anything, he was caught with surprise, when the spell burned him in the leg. Cursing he glared up at the witch, who was trying to look threatening, while wrapped up in a very large blanket.

"Now is not the time for jokes Malfoy, lets just figure out what the hell just happened, so we can go home." Malfoy seemed to think it over a bit before nodding his head.

"Alright Granger, we'll work together tonight to try and figure this out, before we head off to our common room's looking like we just spent the last few hours shagging like rabbits. Why don't we start with that tattoo of yours on your chest…quite delectable if I do say so myself." Malfoy had the gall to move his eyebrows in a suggestible way. Hermione would have been insulted if she actually knew what he was talking about in the first place.

"What are you talking about? I don't have a Tattoo on my chest, I don't have a tattoo at all!"

Malfoy rolled his eyes before speaking.

"Alright be embarrassed about it if you want, but its not like you can lie about it, We saw each other completely naked Granger, and I happened to see quite the intricate little design on your chest, a star design all in black, with runes of some sort on them? Ring any bells?" Hermione actually opened her mouth in surprise, her mind was now stuck as she tried to process what he was talking about. "Actually Malfoy that does ring some bells."

"Well finally you're going to admit-"

"-That sounds just like the Tattoo you have on_ your _chest." Hermione watched as Malfoy stopped in mid sentence, he glanced down at his own chest for a second before looking up at her in shock. "What the fuck?…But…wait…Granger, look at your chest!" Hermione had to laugh at him. _The boys got balls that's for sure…_

"Sorry Malfoy but I'm not going to give you a show here, you've seen more then you ever should of, now be a pervert somewhere else."

"Shut up Granger, and Look at your bloody chest, here I'll turn around!." Hermione was now confused as he did as he was saying…carefully keeping an eye on him, Hermione moved the comforter down past her breasts, to her midriff, what she saw their caused her to scream in fright.

She had the exact same tattoo a Malfoy apparently did, a four by four inch black star tattoo, covered in runes and other intricate designs, it started just inches below the collar bone, and ended just around her breasts. _What the hell is going on here!_


	3. The Morning After

A/N: I just wanted to thank all my reviewers, here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy. might be my last for a few days, but I'll try to get one up in the next few days.

-Sises

"How is this possible Malfoy?" Hermione glanced up and noticed that Malfoy still had his back turned away from her, quickly she moved her make shift cover, up her chest before he answered her back.

"I do not know Granger…I thought your supposed to be the know it all, why don't you tell me?" Hermione actually thought about it for a second. _Yes I am the know it all, I should know something I mean…the moon turns blood red, the stars…that flash of light, and our clothing is gone, and we now have this strange tattoo that wasn't their just minutes before…_

"This can't be possible, even with magic…I mean, its still impossible to give someone a tattoo magical or not, without some feeling of pain!" her immediate answer was a snort from the refined Malfoy junior.

"I don't know about you, but I was in quite the amount of pain after that blinding flash that we were lucky enough to experience."

"Those were your eyes you blonde bimbo! The tattoo should cause our chests to hurt, not our eyes!" Malfoy turned around to face her with look of annoyance.

"I'm aware of that Granger, it was a joke! Of course this isn't possible, therefore I doubt we're going to be able to understand it so soon, and while half naked in the middle of a damned forest! So try to lighten up!"

Hermione blew out a puff of air in annoyance, turning around She tried to sit down against the nearest tree, but her bulky attire was making it difficult. "Come on you stupid…just work with me will you." she tried her best to ignore the muttered remarks and small laughs that she heard coming her way, but for now Hermione chose to ignore them. She bloody well wasn't going to leave the forest in nothing but a blanket that was for sure, and if she had to stand to be in the presents of the Slytherin king himself, then so be it.

"Granger why did you have conjure such a ridiculous sized comforter, when all you needed was a simple blanket?" Hermione just glared over at him.

"I wanted something that I was sure would cover me, and that would be a bit warm as well…so I didn't end up like you are right now!" She noticed Malfoy's eyes flashed a bit, his mask slipped for just the slightest. "What are you t-talking about?" Hermione smirked to herself, she knew he was trying to hide it in the darkness, but it was too obvious.

"Malfoy I'm not stupid…our fire went out quite awhile ago, and its almost one in the morning, and we're half naked, as you put it….Your cold." Malfoy muttered to himself a bit before responding. "I don't know what your t-talking about…I'm not c-cold." rolling her eyes in both disbelief and slight amusement Hermione couldn't think of anything better to do then play with this.

"Your n-not c-c-cold? you s-sound like it m-m-m-Malfoy- "

"-Shut up Granger!"

Hermione laughed a bit before picking up her wand and lighting the end of it. Suddenly the pale moon light that was their only source of light seemed to increase ten fold, as the small clearing was lit up with Hermione's wand. Now the two of them could see their clearing much better, as well as each other. Hermione smirked when she saw how Malfoy's arms were wrapped around his chest, slowly rubbing his arms.

" Why can't you just admit that your cold Malfoy? Its not a bad thing, its natural to be cold when you don't have any clothes on while outside at night."

"How w-would you know Granger, gone streaking lately?" Hermione sighed at his immaturity.

"Yep you got me there Malfoy, Harry, Ron and I do weekly streaking through Hogwarts out onto the grounds, we give each other points on who can scare who…its one hundred points if you manage to catch Snape off guard, one hundred and fifty if you can give Filch a heat attack." she heard the unmistakable sound of Malfoy laughing again, not his usual mocking laugh, but one of actual amusement this time…Hermione noticed again how different it sounded, how it almost sounded nice. _Ok Hermione don't go thinking, just because the two of you have gotten along pretty good these last few hours, that Malfoy is now going to become your best friend, he's still a Slytherin and a Malfoy, a death eater, and don't forget that he saw you naked!_

_Course…I saw him naked too, and truthfully I can say, I think its an even trade off…him seeing me naked isn't anything too bad, his pureblood self is too proud to admit it to anyone, that he saw a mudblood naked, no matter how much his manly side must have enjoyed it…and I have no problem enjoying it…I mean he's so-_

Hermione was surprised how fast her mind wandered past the situation at hand, and directly back where they had been minutes earlier, with Malfoy's naked body standing right in front of her. _calm down Hermione, I mean sure he's really the only naked man you've ever actually seen in person, and yes he's quite the fine specimen…but you have to remember that he's Malfoy…maybe if he had a better personality you might think him alright, but as is, he's nothing more then just evil in a hot body._

"I know you must of enjoyed seeing me naked Granger, but do you have to loose yourself in fantasy so quickly?" Hermione snapped back to the present, and blushed a bit at being caught.

" You say that like you didn't fine me equally attractive Malfoy." Malfoy was apparently momentarily stunned when she didn't deny his claim, but hers seemed to draw a look of disgust to his face, or so it looked.

"Please don't make me sick Granger, your nothing but a mudblood, your body is so incompatible with mine, the thought is abhorred. Besides there are much better looking woman then you by far…"Draco looked to all the world as if he had lapsed into his own fantasy, but Hermione had to just laugh at him. He was a bad liar, especially against someone like Hermione Granger, who prided herself on knowing everything about almost everything.

"Please, your not talking about your precious Slytherin girls are you Malfoy? I mean Bulstrode looks more like a man, then anything else, most people say Greengrass is gay, and Pansy is no gem…she's duller then Neville, aren't Malfoy wives supposed to have as much wit as their husband's…surely a brain dead wife would be just as equally abhorred in society as a muggleborn one?" She had got him their, and she knew it…As much as Malfoy senior would love his son to marry a pureblood Slytherin girl, their was little choice for him to choose, either stupid and ugly, or stupid and stupid. With so few eligible girls in his house to choose from, Draco would either have to turn to the other houses, or pick from the younger years. A prospect Hermione was sure he hated just as much as she would of herself. No matter how unimportant age becomes in your later years, when your sixteen, seventeen, a few years of difference can mean the difference between just a very strange relationship, and being a pedophile.

"Doesn't matter what you say, no matter how…unique the girls in Slytherin are, they are more beautiful by default, because no matter what, it all comes down to blood…pure and dirty…" Hermione grit her teeth at him. _How dare he keep his blasted pure blood bull shit…well lets just see how unattractive I am to the young Malfoy… _

"Please Malfoy no matter how pureblood you are, your still a guy…and there is no straight guy in the world who can not admit that they get off at the sight of a naked girl standing in front of them." "Granger, the day I start lusting after that mess…you call a body is the day you admit you're a dyke and start dating Cho Change! And I admit I'm a poof and proclaim my love for Potter!" Hermione had to laugh at that one. _As if I would ever fall in love with another girl! HA!_ "I hope you didn't swear that in blood Malfoy…"

"What are you talking about Gra-" Malfoy was stopped mid sentence when something Hermione had tossed over to him, had landed in his lap. He picked up the object and examined it for a minute, before realizing what it was.

"Shit! We still have to take this damn potion, don't we?" "That we do Malfoy, we both have to take it, and I would suggest taking it soon, because its late and I would like to get some sleep…so what was that about you admitting you're a poof and loving Harry?"

"Oh Fuck off Granger!" Hermione laughed out loud at him.

" Lets just take the potion and get all this over with…"

"Are you sure it's a good idea for us to take a lust potion, while we're both in this state of undress?" Hermione hesitated for a moment before shrugging.

"What's the worst that can happen Malfoy, you said yourself you would turn gay before you found yourself attracted to me, and I happen to know that I find your body just as attractive as you find mine..."

" Besides Malfoy we hate each other remember, just try to keep that in mind while your wanting to grope me alright?"

"Granger, just take the damn potion alright. Your giving me a headache."

Hermione nodded over to him, she picked up her second vial, she had made just a few minutes previous, and with a silent agreement, the two of them both tipped their vials back and let the liquid slid down their throats.

To Hermione it felt very much like flavored water, something like cherries, or sweet strawberries, _definitely the best tasting potion I've had so far…_A few seconds passed.

She expected their to be some sort of urge or intense feeling for her to rush over and otherwise maul the hell out of the blonde, but she didn't feel anything else for him then she had seconds before. _Does it take some time to start?_ Confused Hermione sat up and crawled her way over to her potions book to check. "Well! What do you know Granger! I was right, my intense hate for you, has completely over ridden whatever effects this potion was supposed to leave me with, I don't feel a thing for you…" Draco then saw Hermione crawling away from her spot across the clearing.

"Oh please tell me your not having trouble fighting the urge to molest me Granger?" Hermione though wasn't paying any attention to the blonde, she was too busy looking through her potions book, to see if it said anything about a possibly waiting period.

"Malfoy did Snape say anything about Metoninosus having a period of wait before it takes effect?" Malfoy looked confused for a moment, he look around before coming back to her.

"No…why aren't you feeling anything?" Hermione just shook her head at him. "Are you feeling anything at all?" Malfoy for once didn't reply with a sarcastic remark, instead he just answered in the negative. Hermione sadly couldn't think of a reason to doubt him, when it came to grades, even Malfoy wasn't about to lie to get his passing mark.

"Granger this is getting really annoying, now where the hell are you going!" Hermione faster then Malfoy could react, had cleaned up their potion, and packed everything back up into her bag, before striding out of the forest like a bat out of hell, still wrapped in her huge comforter.

"Granger what in Merlin's name has gotten into you!" Hermione stopped for just a second to let the blonde catch up with her.

"We're not experiencing anything Malfoy, not a single flicker of attraction or lust, the whole blood moon thing, our missing clothes and our matching tattoo's…something is really wrong, and I'm not going to wait around in that damn forest one second longer to find out. Now I'm going to go get some sleep, and the first thing in the morning, I'm going to have a talk with Snape about what the hell just happened tonight!." Malfoy for once didn't seem he had anything to say, as he stood still, in the middle of the Hogwarts Grounds, watching Hermione move as fast as she could in her quilt as he shuffled up the lawns to Hogwarts.

Hermione was tired, frustrated, annoyed, and though she hated to admit it, a bit scared. She didn't like not know what was going on, and the things that had happened in the last three hours or so, were very high on her 'that's fucked up list' never in her dreams had she thought something, anything similar to that could happen, without their being some kind of explanation. _I can't think right now is all, I'm tired an unnerved…I need sleep, and a good meal, then I can think it all over, and go talk to Professor Snape about it._

Hermione had made her way through Hogwarts, and up to Gryffindor tower faster then she thought she would have been able, seeing how she was currently dressed, even the stairs hadn't been as much of a challenge as she had thought they would have been. She had contemplated in the beginning of just ditching her quilt and making a run for it. But she really didn't want to risk anyone else seeing her naked ass on this particular night. _I swear I am never going anywhere again without a change of clothes, or just a pair of undergarments for Merlin's sake…_

Making her way through the halls, Hermione had finally gotten to the fat lady, not wasting time being polite she rapped her knuckles rather harshly against the canvas, waking the poor lady up quite abruptly.

"Dear me, why miss why are you up so late-…what are you wearing dear, where have you- oh well…never mind that, just say the password before anyone sees you" Hermione was beyond caring whatever the talkative portrait might be thinking, as she quickly said the password and made her way through into the common room. _Great now in twenty four hours between her and violet the whole school is going to know that I came in late last night dressed in a blanket…_Hermione thought that nothing else could possibly go wrong at this point in the morning, but of course the first thing she had to lay eyes on as she turned to head up to the girls dormitory made her stop dead in her tracks.

Ron. Ron was currently half naked, and heavily making out with another girl pressed up against the wall, said girl's hands were all over his back, and every once in a while one snuck down his pants. When the couple turned around Hermione saw that it was Lavender who was currently trying to remove Ron of his trousers. Hermione could only blink back in disbelief at what was going on before her very eyes. _Ron's cheating on me with Lavender….Ron's cheating on me with Lavender…I don't know if I should be relieved because now I have a good reason to break up with him, angry because he's cheating on me, or what…_

"Excuse me… could I, can I get through to my room please." Hermione wasn't sure why she was being so calm, she put it all up to shock, and being overwhelmed from everything that just happened. The couple turned around and broke apart, Ron's eyes going huge, while Lavender just blushed, a small smiles till on her face. "Oh hey Hermione-

"Hermione! Oh Merlin…I, oh please let me explain, you see…oh Bloody hell, I'm sorry its just-" "Ron…its really late, I've had one hell of a night, I just want to go to sleep. Lets just make this easy…I don't think things are working out between us, and apparently you think the same, so lets just say that we broke up earlier today, and you having a snog or two with lavender tonight, wasn't cheating on me. So goodnight you too, congratulations on hooking up." Hermione then proceeded to leave the two shocked couple alone as she ran up the stairs, with one motion she opened the door, slammed it shut, and all but dived for her bed. As soon as she removed the quilt from around herself, and snuggled into her own blankets, she was already half asleep.

Back down in the common room, Ron was still looking back and forth between the spot where Hermione had been, and the stairs she had just ran up.

"Bloody hell, she's more scary when she's calm then when she's hexing me…"

Sunlight drifted through the Gryffindor girls sixth year dormitory, the sun shined upon the floor, before moving up the floor until it came to the nearest bed. Inside the four poster, was a sleeping girl, her bushy brown hair was covering her face, her light snores was the only sound in the room. The warm light eventually started to warm her face, she opened her eyes and yawned, before clutching her pillow even tighter to her head, and trying to go back to sleep.

Seconds later Hermione's eyes flew open, she sat up in her bed, and moved her covers back to look at her naked chest. The star tattoo was still their, even more noticeable in the light of the morning, it covered most of the upper part of what used to be Hermione's spotless chest. _Now theirs one big eye sore their, oh god…what the hell happened last night?_

"I have to talk to Professor Snape!"

Down in the Slytherin dorms, Draco Malfoy had just woken up as well. With no windows down in the dungeon, it wasn't the sun that woke him, but his own internal clock. Taking a few moments to stretch, he sat up in bed, and noticed that he wasn't wearing anything. _That's strange…since when do I sleep naked?_ the thought woke him up as he started to remember the events of last night. Looking down at his own chest, he noticed that the star design he had seen gracing Granger's chest, was on his just as much. _So that wasn't just some freaky dream…_Then the idea fully planted itself in his head, it wasn't just a dream. Draco ran about as quietly as he could, trying to get himself dressed and ready to go. He really didn't want to wake anyone, and risk them seeing the tattoo on his chest, at least not until he knew what it all meant. Searching for a pair of boxers, Draco ended up tripping over his own truck and falling to the floor. _Damnit Granger! If I find out this is somehow all your fault, I will personally hex you to France and back!_

Hermione had all but ran out of the common room as soon as she had gotten herself dressed and at least decent looking enough to face a professor so early on a Saturday morning. _Oh God how am I going to even begin to explain all this, is he even going to believe me? I won't have to actually 'show' him the tattoo will I…oh eww, that's just ew…_

Hermione had turned one corner, ran down a flight of stairs, bypassed the great hall completely, and finally made it into the dungeons, Slytherin territory. Making her way through the hallways, Hermione tried to remember exactly which way it was to Snape's office, she had rarely been their, it was usually Harry who had the honor to grace his greasiness's private domain. When Hermione was sure she had gotten their, she turned and saw a relatively looking oak door, with the words _Severus Snape Potions Master _on them in dark gold letters. _Well I guess this is it…_

Raising her hand to knock she realized that the door wasn't actually locked, in fact it wasn't even closed fully, it was just resting against its frame, taking a moment to ponder what would happen if she just entered unannounced Hermione thought that this qualified as an emergency as she just opened the door and walked in.

She stopped as soon as she had poked her head through, as she noticed that Snape wasn't alone. _Which should have been obvious as his door wasn't shit… _The Slytherin Head of House was apparently in a private conversation with none other then the Slytherin King himself, Draco Malfoy. Hermione took a few moments to think over what she was to do now, she hadn't expected that Malfoy would be their as well, but she figured it just made things that much easier. She wasn't given any time to say anything as Snape beat her to it.

"Ahh Miss Granger, do come in. I'm sure you're here to tell me about some cock and bull story that Mr. Malfoy just came up with? Something to do with the moon being red, disappearing clothing, and strange tattoo's that just appeared out of nowhere?" Hermione's voice caught in her throat, she didn't know what to say when he didn't believe Malfoy. _If he can't convince Snape of something, what choice do I have._ "I'm not lying Professor, ask Granger, it really did happen, the moon turned red, then all our clothes disappeared, and the lust potion didn't work, we felt the same towards one another!" Hermione had to admit, it did sound quite far fetched, almost as if it was an excuse for some other activity the might involve lust potions, and disappearing clothing.

"Mr. Malfoy I expected such a blatant lie from Mr. Potter, not you…now if the two of you do not want to admit that you might of done something, inappropriate while under the effects of Metoninosus then that is up to you, but do not think something like that would fool me for a moment." Hermione coughed a bit to hide a laugh at the very idea. _Me and Malfoy having sex in the forest…not exactly romantic…_

"Actually professor, as unbelievable as it is, that is what happened, the moon did turn a strange color, and after a blinding flash we were both completely bare, with a strange tattoo-"

"-Miss Granger, hold your tongue, I already said that I do not believe such a preposterous story, the least you two could of done is come up with something a bit more believe able, then matching tattoo's and red moon's." Draco apparently was tired of trying to convince the usually friendly professor, reaching up to his collar, he proceeded to unbutton his shirt, until he had enough slack to open it up, revealing his chest, and said Tattoo for the three of them to see. Snape glanced at the tattoo before looking back at the two teenagers, as if he expected something else to randomly happen.

"…Is this supposed to be proof?" Hermione felt like she would never be able to go through another day without something happening that she never thought would ever happen. _First Malfoy sees me completely naked, now Snape gets to see a good part of my chest…what next…_Snape apparently hadn't expected Hermione to mimic Malfoy's actions, as he seemed to take a step back when Hermione lowered her shirt just enough for the top of her star to be shown, giving both Malfoy and Snape a birds eye view of her cleavage.

"What do you make of that Professor?" Snape was silent for a moment, before he turned his gaze to her face, his features as calm as they ever were.

"Miss Granger please cover yourself, I have seen all I need to of your uncovered torso." Hermione did so gladly, raising an eyebrow when she noticed that Malfoy was still staring at her chest. "So all this proves is that the two of you have matching tattoo's hardly rare for loving couples to do, to express their want to be completely together." Both teenagers yelled out in shock at this, that Snape still didn't believe them, and at what he was insinuating. "Professor please believe us, yes its completely unbelievable, but you have to believe us! When have I ever lied to you!" Snape looked over at her with his usual sneer. "That is very true miss granger, you have rarely if ever as far as I know lied to any teacher…but before I believe you, can you tell me miss Granger, what do you know of boomslag skin, lacewing flies, ingredients in Polyjuice potion perhaps, familiar with said potion are you miss Granger?" Hermione couldn't say a word to him, he had her caught, but how he knew anything about their acts in second year she had no idea. Snape seemed patient, and was waiting for a response, but Malfoy is not known for her patience.

"Professor! Why are you being so stubborn, how could you easily believe that me and a mud-Granger would ever touch one another…"

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger I am tired of this charade, now unless the two of you have any potion to give to me, as well as a list of effects you felt while under said potion then I must ask you to leave, and not return until class next Wednesday!"

"But the potion didn't work!" Malfoy argued

" Then you didn't brew it properly!" Snape barked back

"Here!" the two men turned to see Hermione taking out a few more vials of potion, the same crimson potion they had made just hours ago. She handed one to Draco, who took it in confusion, kept one to herself, and gave the rest to Snape.

"Is this, or is this not Metoninosus sir?" Snape only looked at the vial in his hands before answering.

"It appears to be, but without testing it, it is almost impossible to tell." Hermione wasted no time in drinking the potion, with Draco finally catching on, drank his as well. Snape alarmed stepped back as soon as they each finished their potion.

Seconds passed as no one dared move. Snape looked back and forth between the two of them, for sure expecting them to both jump one another any second.

" You see Professor, it doesn't effect either of us at all." Snape rolled his eyes, but he continued to look down at the vials in his hands. Taking one up for a closer look, he took the smallest of sips from it, before spitting it out onto the floor. Hermione and Malfoy were both shocked at this, but said nothing. "It appears that this is Metoninosus…at least it tastes like it." taking out his wand he waved it in Hermione's direction whispering the words

"_Pererro_"

A few blue dots came out of his wand and circle Hermione once or twice before disappearing. All of a sudden, strange symbols and things that resembled numbers of some kind appeared in the air next to her. Snape studied them for a minute before shaking his head, with a wave of his wand the numbers disappeared. Moving closer to her, he grabbed her chin with his hand, and moved her face up to look at his. Hermione was a bit unnerved by how closely he was looking at her, and his hand felt cold as ice to the touch.

"Well Miss Granger, it appears you are telling the truth, all signs point to you being under the effect of a lust potion, except for the fact that you are perfectly normal right now. Your heart rate hasn't increased, there is no blush to your cheeks, and your eyes are not dilated…it seems that this potion is as effective on you as water." Hermione only nodded at him, with Malfoy doing the same behind Snape's back.

"That's what we've been trying to tell you, now that you believe us, what do you think could of caused all of this." Snape removed his hand from Hermione's chin, for which she was very grateful. He walked back to his desk, and turned around to face the two teenagers.

" I truthfully have no idea Mr. Malfoy, but I am more inclined to believe the rest of your story now, those matching marks on your chest's are no lie, nor is the lack of effects the potion is having on the two of you." Snape paused for a moment, but neither Hermione or Draco could think of anything to say.

"Follow me, perhaps the headmaster will have an idea of what's going on." with that Snape strode from his office, not even waiting for them to catch up with him, as they were leaving the room Hermione muttered to herself.

"I'm sure he does, he always seems to know what's going on…"


	4. Compar Pectus

A/N: ok ok, I really wanted to get all this chapter over and done with, because this was the most difficult part to write, I wanted it to be detailed enough to make sense, but not to the point where it was difficult to read, I hope I didn't go over board, let me know if it was too much, or if I confused anyone, and I'll try and make it easier to understand, please enjoy and review!...

-Sises

The strange group of three walked quite quickly through the dungeons, up several flights of stairs, until after turning a corner, found themselves outside a familiar Gargoyle statute. Hermione felt a bit nervous as she always did when talking to Dumbledore, not that she was getting in trouble but just because meetings with Dumbledore rarely discovered good news. _The mans an absolute genius, Merlin in his own time…but he's crazy as all hell, and just a but creepy with everything he knows…not to mention those damn twinkling eyes, and his child like fascination with muggle candy… _

"Professor? is everything alright?"

Hermione watched as Snape seemed to come out of whatever daze he had apparently been in, not even answering Hermione, Snape just continued to walk up to the statue guarding Dumbledore's office.

" What was the damn password again…Hershey bars… No, hmm…Twinkies? Bugger…Granger name off some ridiculous sounding muggle candy!" Hermione tried not to laugh at the whole situation.

" Don't you know the password sir?" Snape just glared at her for a moment, before Hermione decided that was going to be her answer.

"Ok, um…Butterfinger?" all at once the statue moved out of the way, revealing the staircase up to the headmaster's office. Malfoy was the first of them to make a sound, and it happened to be a bark of laughter. Hermione didn't want to join in and laugh along with the blonde, but she had to admit it was hilarious. _Snape needing me to name off muggle candies to get into the headmasters office…that's just perfect. _

"Mr. Malfoy stop laughing before I award you with a detention, now its both of your faults that I am even awake at this time of day, please show some maturity if it is at all possible, now get inside!" Hermione thought as she was quickly running up past Snape into the Headmasters office, that Professor Snape definitely was not a morning person.

Malfoy was the first one to reach the Headmasters door, and he promptly knocked a few times on it. Hermione had barely gotten up to the door herself, when they both heard the Headmaster tell them to enter. Opening the door slowly, the two of them, closely followed by Professor Snape entered Dumbledore's office, to see him of all places behind his desk. Fawks the phoenix was busy sleeping on his perch, and the Headmaster himself was reading what looked to be some sort of novel.

"Ah, what can I do for the three of you on this lovely Saturday morning? Severus I assume you know of what this is pertaining too?"

Now that the three of them were their, Hermione didn't know exactly where to begin. The whole experience was so unbelievable that even she was starting to think they might of dreamed it all. _If it wasn't for those damn tattoo's…_

"Well Professor Dumbledore…its kind of hard to explain sir, you see…um…last night Malfoy and I were busy working on our potions project, and the strangest thing happened you see, I mean, at first I didn't even know what was going on, it really is hard to believe, though interesting in its own right sir-"

"- Get to the damn point Granger!" Hermione blushed a bit, she was just a bit nervous and having trouble putting it all down into words.

"Mr. Malfoy please watch your language and be a bit patient, I will give you your turn to speak, let Miss Granger tell the story in her own words first." Dumbledore then turn to face Hermione again, a kind smile on his face, his eyes holding nothing but sincerity and caring in them.

"Miss Granger please continue…but an explanation of the facts would be better way of managing your time and organizing your words. I'm sure Mr. Malfoy and yourself would rather we discuss this all before lunch time I daresay hmm?" Hermione instantly felt herself become much more relaxed, taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of the Headmasters desk, she started over.

"Sir last night as we were working on our potion, the moon turned red…."

Several minutes passed, as Hermione and Draco both told their stories, up to and including when they talked to Professor Snape. The Potions Master himself then told the Headmaster his part of the story, as well as all he had figured out when Hermione had taken the potion.

"I couldn't see any actual effects on her at all, neither her no Mr. Malfoy changed in posture or appearance, and the potion was indeed Metoninosus, I tasted it myself. I have no idea as to the actual facts of the story before they came to me, though I have seen both of their tattoo's and I'm sure they didn't get them over the summer holidays."

Dumbledore took a moment to ponder everything the three had told him. Hermione watched as his hand came up to stroke his beard as he thought about it. He even got out of his chair to pace a bit, mumbling to himself ever so quietly. It seemed like an hour to Hermione, but eventually the old man came back to his desk and say down, his eyes twinkling once again.

"Mr. Malfoy, if you would be ever so kind, could you please remove your shirt? I would like to see this tattoo for myself." Malfoy just nodded to himself before once again un-buttoning his shirt. Unlike with Professor Snape, Malfoy actually removed the entirety of his shirt, leaving himself bare-chested in front of everyone. Dumbledore leaned his head closer to get a look at the tattoo, his brow was creased as he peered at it, Hermione hoped that he had an actual idea of what was going on. If the most powerful wizard in the world didn't have a clue, she feared they would never find out what was going on.

"Interesting…quite interesting…" Malfoy seemed to be a bit unnerved by the way everyone was staring at his bare chest. He tried looking away but it seemed all to much for him, turning back to he faced the headmaster.

"What's interesting sir?" Dumbledore only shook his head, still thinking to himself. He appeared to have not heard Malfoy's question.

"Miss Granger? Take a careful look at Mr. Malfoy's mark here, are you quite certain that you bare an exact duplicate?" Hermione took the time to actually study Malfoy's chest…for academic reasons of course. She looked at the way it started just a few inches below his collar bone, before stretching out across his upper chest, ending just around his nipples, exactly like hers.

"Yes sir I'm quite sure its exactly the same, a five pointed star with one point, pointed towards the head, the others towards the arms, and the bottom two in the general direction of the legs, it's the same size, and begins and ends in the same places on me. But do you know what the strange designs are? Or how it even got here in the first place?"

Dumbledore motioned that Draco could put his shirt back on, leaning back in his chair he took a few deep breaths before he faced the two teenagers. "Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy I am not entirely sure what exactly happened to you, or even if my suspicions are correct…" Hermione sat waiting with all her patience, the room was so silent, that she was sure Dumbledore was the only one actually breathing.

" But if my suspicions are correct, then this is something quite amazing, and unique." _Unique? This hasn't ever happened before?_

"What do you mean unique sir? Surely this has happened before, somewhere, at some time in the world?" Hermione didn't want to think about how desperate she had sounded just then. Dumbledore laughed a bit before continuing.

"Calm yourself Miss Granger, yes something of this sort has happened before, but not at all like you have described, never with these particular signs, but similar things." neither of the two teenagers wanted to say a thing, they waited for the headmaster himself to finish his own sentence.

"Headmaster, what signs exactly are you talking about?" Hermione turned to face her Potions Professor, he hadn't said anything for so long, she had forgotten he was their entirely.

" Well here is what you have told me, neither of you two are effected by one of the most powerful lust potions wizard kind has seen, you both have the exact star marking upon yourselves, and the two of you have gotten along much better in the last ten hours then you have in the last five years of knowing one another."

"Headmaster what does their actions towards one another have anything to do with these events? Perhaps they have just reached a new level of maturity?"

Dumbledore ignored the Professors question entirely.

" Professor Snape, can you tell me what could cause a perfectly brewed potion of any kind to have no effect once so ever." Snape thought about it for a moment, before continuing.

"Well the potion could indeed be improperly mixed, but if it is indeed perfectly brewed then the only thing would be that the person is somehow immune to that particular potion, not unheard of though quite rare, it is possible…"

"Close but you are missing the only other alternative, the one I am getting at."

"And what is that Headmaster?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled even more as he looked at his Potions Professor.

"I'm sure you remember the saying in your youth, that of giving a cure to one that is not ill?"

Snape look at Dumbledore as confused as the two teenagers were for a moment, before his eyes widened past anything Hermione had ever seen on the man before.

"Please tell me your not saying that the potion didn't work because -"

"The effects it was to give, was already in place? Yes that is exactly what I am proposing."

Hermione didn't think silence could be deafening but right at that moment its exactly what it felt like.

"What do you mean already in effect? Are you saying that Granger and I are already lusting after one another!" Hermione knew that was what the Headmaster was getting at, but she didn't want to believe it, for once in her life she wished the omniscient man was dead wrong. Draco though was taking a much more aggressive approach to the situation.

"How many times do we have to tell the two of you, we're not in a relationship we don't care about each other, and we're definitely not attracted to one another!" Hermione felt sick when she saw that Dumbledore's eyes were still twinkling, like shining blue stars, they seemed to pierce the air.

"Mr. Malfoy I do very much believe you that Miss Granger and yourself are not in a relationship, but your other two points I am disinclined to believe, though I know that neither one of you believe them…Here let me explain further."

"Have either of you heard of _Compar Pectus?" _Both Hermione and Draco shook their head, confusion on their face, Snape though snorted out loud.

"Headmaster please…Are you saying that a fairy tale, an old wives tale, that something children and adolescent females believe in is what's behind all of this?" Hermione looked between the two adults, confused even more._ Something girls believe in?_

"Now Severus, I think we've come across this subject once or twice, you can't deny that such a thing exists, why you remember Natalie and Stukov don't you? And I've told you about Annabelle and James." Severus seemed to find idea even more unbelievable.

"Yes, but both those cases were different, nothing about tattoos, or blood red moons."

"Yes but you have to admit that neither of them had such feelings of animosity that young master Malfoy and miss Granger do."

" You do have a point there headmaster but-"

Hermione felt like she was invisible, neither of the adults seemed to even remember that she or Malfoy were even in the room.

"Well do what you want Headmaster, but don't be surprised if they are not inclined to believe in your wild dreams…a bloody romantic is what you are Albus…" Hermione and Draco both watched as Snape turned around and left the headmaster's office, but not before they could all hear his final remark.

"And barking mad as well…"

Hermione didn't know what to think of, well whatever it was that just happened. _Snape thinks Dumbledore's out of his mind about whatever he's thinking about….what could cause Snape to be so distrustful of his truthfully only friend?"_

"Well now back to our earlier discussion….so neither of you have heard of Compar Pectus? Well I'm not entirely surprised, it isn't usually gone by its traditional Latin name."

"Headmaster could you tell us exactly what Compar Pectus is?" Hermione didn't like the look in Dumbledore's eyes, he looked way too amused for Hermione's taste. "Well that's the thing, it is very difficult to just say, because it means something different to everyone, and particularly between muggles and traditional wizards, like Mr. Malfoy here."

"Could you try at least sir? Maybe give a comparison that we would understand?" they didn't seem to be getting anywhere, for all Hermione knew Compar Pectus could very well be some type of horrible deadly disease, all she knew is that her patience, was being tried by the one person she looked up too the most. She wished the headmaster would just go right ahead and say it, instead of beating around the bush so much.

"Miss Granger that is a very excellent idea, well truthfully the best way I can put it is…Have either of you heard of the great muggle playwright William Shakespeare, and his famous story of the Tragedy Of Romeo and Juliet?"

Draco shook his head once more, just as confused as before. While Hermione had turned a delicate shade of green. She seemed like she was trying to say something, but nothing was coming out. _he can't possibly be talking about…could he? No its beyond possible…its just not possible at all…what?_

"Professor what's this story have to do about anything? And-" at this Draco caught sight of Hermione's face, looking for all the world like she was currently choking on something.

"H-h-…Headmaster please tell me that your not talking about Romeo and Juliet themselves are you, I mean you don't meant…well you know, I mean that's not possible right? Right…?"

"I'm afraid Miss Granger that I am indeed talking about Romeo and Juliet themselves, their lives, and most importantly the connection between them."

"Granger what's this Shipspear guy's story got to do with anything?"

Hermione couldn't believe that Malfoy had never heard of William Shakespeare, even in the Wizarding world he must be famous…_Right?_

"Malfoy _William Shakespeare_ is the most famous English playwright of all time, and the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is arguably his most famous piece, how could you of not heard of him!"

Malfoy just looked at her with a raised eye brown, smirk in place.

"Well, for one he's a muggle, and two…well the first one speaks for itself really. Now quit idolizing some no doubt corpse in the ground, and tell me what his damn story has to do with everything!"

Hermione almost felt sad for the Wizarding world, the fact that they were so blind to all the great things muggle, the music, the literature, the technology, all pity she had previously had for anyone unlucky enough to not be gifted with magic disappeared in a second.

"Malfoy Romeo and Juliet, is a story about love."

Hermione waited for the outburst, the denial, and especially the nausea that had assaulted her.

She didn't expect him to burst out laughing.

"Ok ok, that was good…I didn't expect that at all, seriously though Granger, what's the story about? Death? Betrayal? Two people sworn to hate each other for all eternity?" Hermione couldn't take it anymore, it was all too much to even think about thinking about, and she didn't even believe it, she was sure she didn't believe it.

"Actually Malfoy it has all that, Death Betrayal, and two feuding families that hate each other on principal, but the main focus is on the two main characters, the only children of the two families, and their love for each other."

Now she got what she expected, Malfoy first look very surprised, shocked to his core, his mask slipped completely off his face, and shattered to the floor. And then the nausea started, his pale face look like it would just disappear, Hermione half expected him to run out of the room, hands covering his mouth as he ran.

" Are you saying that all this has something to do with l-love?"

Hermione nodded at him. "Not just love, but t-true love, love at first sight, soul mates, that kind of thing."

They both looked over in surprise when Dumbledore spoke once again.

"_ Compar Pectus._"

Hermione forced herself to look at the headmaster, a man she thought to be one of the kindest in the world, was trying to make her believe that her life had virtually come to an end. She felt like she had just received the dementor's kiss.

"Professor Dumbledore, please tell me that your mistake somehow, I mean…Malfoy and I are definitely not in love, we don't even like each other, were not even friends. You have to be wrong."

Dumbledore for the first time today, had a look of sadness upon his face. "No my child, I'm afraid I am not, I believe that the two of you are soul mates, two halves of the same soul, bound together by fate, and a prophecy."

"Do you expect us to believe that the two of us are forever bound to live happily ever after in loving bliss…together? That the two of us are destined to be with each other! Do, how could you even believe it!"

Hermione for once could say that she completely and utter agreed with Draco Malfoy. _Uh, not a pleasant thought that one…How could Dumbledore possible believe such nonsense, true love didn't even exist, and it definitely didn't exist between me and the wonder ferret._

"Well I will admit to the two of you that it is still a theory, nothing is for certain yet, at least not until certain…shall we say signs of shown themselves, will any of us be sure…but given the circumstances I'm sure that this is true."

Hermione didn't believe it, it was beyond all logic, that she thought Dumbledore even in his slight madness still had. "Professor Dumbledore, didn't you say that this isn't a unique case completely, that their have been others similar to it in the past?" Dumbledore smiled down at Hermione, his eyes still twinkling ever so slightly.

"Why yes, I have in the many years I have been alive, been lucky enough to see this extraordinary event twice before now. The first was with two childhood friends of mine, who are regrettably now, living peacefully in the other side, many long years now. They were Annabelle and James Newford, childhood friends that had turned to the most caring lovers at a very young age. They had told me the second they saw one another, even as young children at Hogwarts, they had felt an instant attraction, of course at that age, it must have been nothing more then a feeling of friendliness, or perhaps puppy love. But as the years rolled on, it did in fact turn into something quite spectacular." Hermione and Draco both listened to this long ago old tale of love, with little enjoyment, so far neither of them understood how this had anything to do with them.

"Headmaster, what exactly is the connection between our situation, and theirs?" Dumbledore now turned his eyes to Malfoy, who for all his years of trying to look completely emotionless, and unaffected by everything, found it particularly hard to ignore those eyes of his.

"Why mister Malfoy that is what leads me to believe that you two are in a similar situation…you see when James and Annabelle were in their sixth year, I think it was on Yule, they both awoke to a strange sound coming from the common room, they told me later on that it sounded very much like a heavenly choir, and yet none of their roommates, or fellow Ravenclaws heard anything, nor did they awake. They told me that they, just upon seeing one another in their common room, felt the touch of something upon them, and seconds later the music stopped."

Hermione was waiting for something else for the aha, that explains it, she waited a few more seconds for him to finish, but he didn't seem like he was going to. Just before she could open her mouth Dumbledore smiled down at he in amusement before he continued on.

"The part you will be most interested in, is that the next day, they remembered the event perfectly, all except one…where they both got their beautiful rings from. You see they both woke up to find they had matching rings on their middle finger, a ring that could not come off. One with their initials entwined"

"Of course this story alone doesn't mean too much, but when you add it with anther more recent one, that of Stukov and Natalie, two sixth years from Ravenclaw and Slytherin respectively, who had a very similar experience. These students were in Hogwarts roughly at the same time as your father and godfather were Draco, and like Annabelle and James, they to saw something quite spectacular one night, and awoke to find something that wasn't their before, for them it was a pair of necklaces, each with a Ravenclaw and Slytherin motif imprinted upon them." Hermione for all her skepticism, found the two stories to be a bit interesting in their own right, to discover that something like this was possible, even in the Wizarding World, was incredible indeed.

"Both of these couples saw this as a sign that they were in fact compatible together, the latter especially so, for being from two different houses, they found it difficult to remain anything more then friends, but when they felt they had received such a divine sign as they believed, who could doubt it?"

Hermione sat back thinking over the information, she saw all the similarities quite easily, and she didn't want to believe it, but as the years moved on, she felt it was more and more difficult to not believe such extraordinary things when it came to magic. The more she learned, the more she discovered that magic can almost do anything, whether possible or not.

Draco was still quite skeptical, he didn't, couldn't believe that such a connection was possible, and especially that one might exist between him and Granger, it just wasn't possible, even with all the magic in the world. "But Headmaster, that still doesn't explain everything, nor does it mean that we are in the same situation, if that were true, then Granger and me should be happily together now, on our way to making many half blooded little pests don't you think?" Hermione looked insulted at the way Draco so casually implemented that they would be having sex, if things were different. "Malfoy you perverted little-"

"Miss Granger, calm yourself. I think Mr. Malfoy is just having a bit of fun, to lighten the mood, but Draco do not go believing that these events created any love between the couples, that love was already their, these were just signs of how pure it was."

"Well then there's your biggest problem, Granger and I detest one another, we would never be happy with one another."

"And yet I do not think neither of you would be happy with anyone else."

"W-what do you mean, not happy with anyone else?"

Hermione felt a strange feeling that everything Dumbledore was telling, was actually true, that somehow, all of this might be true. _That Malfoy and I are soul mates…but, it can't be true…can it?_

"Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy I do not want to pry into your private lives, but if we want to discover the meaning behind all this, and if you would give me just a few more minutes of your time, let me add some more merit to my hypothesis." Hermione really didn't like where this was going.

"Have either one of you been romantically involved with anyone else in your lives?" Hermione felt that the questions was a lot less severe then he made it sound, she almost thought for a second he was going to ask something a bit more, _personal_.

Both of the teenagers answered in the positive, Draco answering Pansy, while Hermione mentioned Ron, and very briefly Viktor Krum.

Dumbledore's smile of anything just got all the larger.

"Well… then I guess I have to admit defeat, but that is of course only if you can both tell me truthfully that you are still happily involved with them?"

Hermione felt her mouth go dry, it seemed that for every step they took in refuting Dumbledore's outrageous claim, that he came up from behind and pulled them back.

"Mr. Malfoy, are you still happily together with Miss Parkinson?"

Hermione was not surprised when Malfoy answered in the negative, she found it hard to believe that anyone could possibly be happy with Pansy, at any point in time. Dumbledore then turned his eyes toward Hermione, his smile seemed almost gloating to her.

"And you miss Granger? I assume that your passing fancy with Mr. Krum, was a thing from your fourth year, but what about Mr. Weasley? Are you two still, er connected at the hip, as they say?"

Hermione smiled for the first time in what seemed like days, she felt positive that she had gotten the old headmaster on this one. _Why yes Professor Ron and I are happily…_but that was until she had remembered all the events of last night, of her catching Ron and Lavender in the common room, and most importantly her casually breaking up with him, as if it didn't even matter much. _Shit…what else can go wrong today…_Then the worst part, her earlier pondering of how she didn't find the freckled red head to be attractive in the least, nothing more then a friend to her.

"No…We-…we're just friends now…It didn't work out between us." Dumbledore seemed as if he wanted to cheer in joy, his smile was so huge, he instead settled for a small laugh before addressing the teens once more.

"I assume that it just, wasn't meant to be?" Hermione almost felt like smacking the look of the headmasters face, she felt appalled by her thoughts, but never in her life had she been so annoyed with the kind old man before.

"It is as I was saying, the two of you, only have eyes for one another…and I know that you shall argue the fact to the Heavens themselves, but I believe it is your mutual distain for one another, that has blinded you to this truth, why I can safely say that the two of you are so connected, that you have all but been saving yourselves for one another, even if it is unknown to even you…"

"Headmaster! You can't be serious!"

"Professor please! The idea is repulsive!"

But the two teens simultaneous screams of outrage only brought laughter from the old headmaster. "Why you two even sound alike when your angry!" Hermione all but reached for her wand in frustration, while Draco took a more direct approach, slamming his fists on the desk.

"Stop making so light of this headmaster, now unless you either give us whatever remaining 'proof' you have, or this meeting is over!" Hermione was shocked that Malfoy would talk to a teacher that way, not to mention the Headmaster himself, his eyes were deadly cold, and he looked as angry as Hermione had ever seen him. It brought a strange feeling to her…

"Calm yourself Mr. Malfoy, I am just such in good spirits at the news of this."

"Now Dumbledore!"

Hermione didn't know if she should be agreeing with Draco, or siding with the Headmaster, she wasn't too happy with either one of them right now.

"There is one last bit of information that I think answers the question why the two of you received a star marked upon your chest."

Dumbledore sat up and moved to a far wall, where opening a drawer near the floor he proceeded to rummage around what looked like hundreds of scrolls of parchment. "Aha! Here it is…" Hermione felt the beginning of a headache, the headmaster was either letting them in on the most important secret their lives ever held, or he's playing the worlds most cruel joke on them. At this point, Hermione was truthfully not sure which one she would of preferred.

Sitting down once again at his desk, he laid an old piece of parchment on hid desk, it seemed to be decades old if the dryness and tears indicated anything, most of it was covered in a sprawling elegant handwriting, but what drew Hermione's and most likely Draco's attention to it as well was the image at the bottom, as well as the signature.

_Cassandra Trelawney,  
Master Seer. _

The signature caught the eye of Draco who had heard the name his whole life.

"_The _Cassandra Trelawney the worlds most famous seer?

And just abovewas the unmistakable star that both Draco and Hermione had on their chests. Dumbledore gave them a few seconds to look over the parchment before he spoke, his words no long sounding amused, but tired, and certain.

"This is an old prophecy, one of the few of Cassandra Trelawney's that has survived to this day, she is as you said Mr. Malfoy the worlds most well known Ceer, two times Great Grandmother of our own Professor Trelawney."

Hermione looked on in uncertainty, she had like everyone else heard the name, but she always had difficulty believe in such things, though she believed almost anything was possible with magic, seeing the future was one thing she was hesitant to give any credit to.

"It speaks of a prophecy, of two halves of a soul, one of the old world, and the new, coming together, with the sign of a star pointing them out." Hermione peered closer to the faded parchment, she had to squint but she was just able to make out the faded ink.

"_On the eve of a great darkness  
a soul shall come together.  
Half touched by darkness, Half sought after by the light.  
None shall go their chosen path, for it shall make one anew.  
Love shall be the product of this union, strain with hardships and pain._

_None shall know peace or find rest until it is complete.  
The mark of the star shall light the path to find it.  
Broken long ago, shall now be made anew, both the old world and now the new."_

"The old world and the new? What does it mean by that?"

"And half touched by darkness, Half sought after by the light?"

Dumbledore's eyes didn't stray from the parchment once while he spoke, his eyes no longer twinkling were focused on the old words, his hands seem to gravitate to the parchment, but they never came in contact with it.

"The Old World and the New World is a now, no longer common way of saying the Wizarding world, and the Muggle World. The Wizarding World has long been considered the old world, as we have not put our minds to use for advancement of technology, of exploration, and discovery. While this is the main focus point behind the Muggle world."

Draco abruptly snorted at the very idea. " You make it sound like Muggles can do more then we can, their technology isn't anything compared to magic." Dumbledore then looked over at Draco, his eyes held a sadness about them.

"On the contrary Mr. Malfoy, Muggles are quite powerful, they need no magic to be better then us, our killing curse can only hurt one person at a time, while theirs can level entire cities…We may be able to fly to the highest clouds, but Muggles have pierced the very sky itself, exploring the depths of space. Not only are we out numbered one hundred to one, but our magic would be nothing next to their terrors if we were to go against them."

Malfoy apparently had no come back to that, and Hermione wondered for the hundredth time, just how much muggle technology did Wizard kind not know if? _The atom bomb? Space exploration? Machine Gun's? What else haven't they heard of?_

" I think that part refers more to the individual people themselves. While I believe the old world and the new, talks about you heritage, one of pure wizard kind, the other completely muggle, the darkness and light speaks much more plainly."

"Mr. Malfoy it is no great secret to either myself or Miss Granger, that you and the majority of your family are loyal to Lord Voldemort, while I do not claim to know your own loyalty, you are no doubt touched by darkness just because of your upbringing."

"And Miss Granger, though you no doubt hold much contempt for Voldemort and his ilk, you are not a part of any resistant, or otherwise counter force, though I know that many know of the potential in you, and therefore you are much sought after by both myself and the ministry."

"I know that it is all rather a lot to take in, but I must confess, that I myself had no idea that you two would be the ones in this prophecy, it was not until you came to me today, and spoke of marks, red moons, and all other strangeness, did I make the connection…I know this has come as a great shock to you, but you must believe me. You, Draco Lucius Malfoy and Hermione Jane Granger, are half of the same soul, your lives are entertained, whether you want to believe it or not."

Hermione sat their in shock, her mind still trying to absorb all the information it had just taken in…_Dear Merlin, I think I need a drink…something like fire whiskey, yes that sounds nice…_

Draco wasn't doing much better, preferring to look anywhere but at the parchment, his eyes eventually rested on Hermione herself, but he quickly looked away before anyone could see. _Fuck…that's the only word to describe any of this, its just Fuck. None of this is true, I refuse to believe it…its just…Fuck._


	5. Dreams of the Future

A/N: I just wanted to thank everyone that reviewed, you're all wonderful. I also wanted to appologise about my grammer and spelling mistakes, I am horrible at seeing and correcting my mistakes, because I hate editing as well as taking the time to do it...Several of you have suggested a beta, and I would love to have one. but I know of no one personally who would be willing much less qualified to do it. If anyone would like to volenteer themselves, or perhaps refer me to someone willing and able to do such a thing, it would be most welcome. I don't usualy have a beta, but in the interest of making you all happy, I would be willing to work along side someone.

Thank you for your time, and please enjoy the chapter...just so you know, I hope you like it. please review and let me know your thoughts.

-Sises

Not a full minute later, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were seen dashing out of the Headmasters office, all but leaping down the staircase as they hurried to get away like they were being chased by a band of wild Hippogriff's.

Hermione herself didn't know fully why she was running off along with Malfoy, all she knew is that when Draco had stood up and turned to leave she was more then ready to follow him. All the information she had heard in the last two hours was more then she was able to take in at such an early time of day. Eventually the two slowed as they came closer to the great hall. Draco was the first to stop, Hermione right behind him. Neither one of them talked for a moment, not sure what there even was to say to one another. Hermione took a moment to think about just leaving, parting ways, and letting one another figure out everything on their own, come to their own conclusions. But Malfoy had already turned to talk to her before she could make up her mind what to do.

" Do you believe any of that Granger?" _Yes…No?….Maybe so?…_Hermione wasn't sure what to make of the question, it was much too straightforward coming from Malfoy, much to neutral, she wasn't sure of the right answer.

" Its too unbelievable to be true." _a true in itself, if not the complete answer to his question…but, what do I believe…yes no, possibly?_ _For once I don't know the answer, I have no slight idea of what it could be…_

"I've never agreed with you more Granger, its complete bullshit. Us? Two halves of one soul? Like I said, I would sooner admit that I'm in love with Potter…Well I think I can safely say that we have spent entirely too much time together Granger, I hope I never see you again, good day." With that Draco Malfoy gave his usual smirk before leaving Hermione standing outside the Great Hall doors. Hermione felt strange, she wasn't sure why, but for some reason she felt lost. In the middle of her favorite place in the world, a spot she's seen countless times over the years, and she couldn't think of where to go from their, or what she was supposed to do now. _What now? Do I just go to lunch and try and forget all of this? Is that even possible? Is any of what Dumbledore talked about even possible?…What do I do now?_

Minutes later, very few Gryffindors saw Hermione sneak her way to her seat, to catch the last five minutes of morning breakfast. Hermione was able to sneak her way over to where she saw Harry and Ron sitting, and quickly sit down, grabbing a muffin out of a bowl before anyone even so much as looked over at her. Ron was the first person to notice her, he immediately started talking to her, his mouth full of what appeared to be pancakes. The grumbles and snaps of what most people knew to be Ron speaking with a full mouth, was what caught the attention of Harry Potter, who was quick to turn around see Hermione sitting right next to him.

"Hermione! Where have you been? You almost missed all of breakfast?"

"Oh Snape wanted to speak with me and Malfoy about our potion last night."

Ron finally managed to swallow his mouthful. "You had to do your potion with Malfoy? What potion did you guys do!" Hermione tried to forestall their questions by forcing food in her mouth, but for once they were persistent, waiting for her to finish. "..um Metoninosus…"

"You had to make the Metoninosus Potion with Malfoy last night!" Hermione fast flushed as their voices became louder with every word.

"Not so loud Harry! Yes, Snape made us, he wanted to make sure that someone at least tried the potion, he felt that with our animosity between one another we wouldn't fear the effects of the potion."

Ron seemed unable to completely form the sentence he wanted too as he stuttered around his words.

"Did anything…you know? Well not that it would of course…I mean its you and…well him, and uh…well though of course nothing would…But the potion…and uh…did…you know?…anything…well…happen….last night?…besides the brewing and all?" Ron flushed a delicate shade of pink, that Hermione had to admit looked cute on him. But her own thoughts were much too confused to give it any thought. _Did anything happen…now that's the million dollar questions isn't it? Did anything happen indeed._ "Nothing really, just making our potion and all…" Hermione tried once again to force herself to eat, hoping that she had quenched the boy's curiosity for now. Alas it still wasn't to be, as they both fired questions off at her one by one, as she was eating.

"What happened after you took the potion?  
"What was it like? I mean, did you have any…feelings for Malfoy?"

"Ron don't be stupid, this is Hermione we're talking about she would never have feelings for the Ferret, especially since you two are going out, have some more faith in her mate."

Hermione actually stopped eating at this, her eyes and Ron's meeting across the table, before his darted away to look somewhere else, while Hermione's looked at the table.

"Well…a-actually Harry…"

"We're not dating anymore, it wasn't working out, so we decided together to just be friends?"

Harry seemed a bit speechless at this, looking between one friend and the other, a confused look on his face."What? Why? I mean…I thought you guys were perfect together, I mean, Merlin, you guys fancied each other for years." Hermione laughed a bit in embarrassment, she still hated talking about back when they both were too afraid to do anything about their feelings. _Times have changed, I don't wait around for anyone anymore…_"Yes well, we really didn't fit together, their wasn't that…well what do you call it?"

"The spark, the little feeling of connection, of it being right." Hermione finished.

"And, uh…I'm going out with Lavender now…" Harry looked at Ron in what looked to be both anger and confusion. "What!" he screamed.

"What do you mean your going out with Lavender, you guys just broke up yesterday didn't you? Well obviously their wasn't a spark, you were looking at another girl!"

"Harry calm down, yes we only broke up yesterday, but I don't care about Ron and Lavender…in fact…well I can honestly say that I'm happy for him." Hermione actually surprised herself with this remark, but as she thought about it, she realized it wasn't a lie. _I really am happy that he's happy…wow, I guess I wasn't really that devoted to our relationship._ "yeah mate its alright, we talked about it, well a bit. And well, neither one of us were happy together, you know Hermione, she wants a fairy tale ending, while I want a realistic girl who isn't afraid to well uh…have a bit of fun as they say."

"Alright Ronald that is enough, as happy as I am, I would rather not hear of any 'fun' you and Lavender have been having, unless of course it involves studying and schoolwork."

"Um…Hermione, no offense, but that's not fun at all." Hermione smirk at the two boys,

"Well damn, guess then you'll just have to shut up then huh?"

The three friends burst out laughing at that, before returning to their food, eventually starting another completely different conversation. Hermione remembered thinking while she and Harry teased Ron about his feelings for lavender, and then the two of them turned on Harry about his feelings for Ginny. _No matter what happens with all this with Malfoy…I'm sure I'll always have these two friends, these two brothers really…my family…_

That night Hermione was late heading off to bed, being a Saturday the Gryffindor trio had decided to laze around and just enjoy the day. Having no work to do, and with too much to think about to get any work done, had she had any anyways. Hermione had fully accepted the idea of doing nothing, except enjoying the day.

They had spent quite a bit of time just talking about noting while walking around the school, visiting some friends from other houses, and doing some mock dueling. They had then, later on retreated to the Gryffindor girls dormitory for some friendly privacy. Hermione had suggested it, as Lavender and Parvati never spent any time in their during the day, and though Ron was a bit put off at not being able to hang out with his friends, and his new girlfriend, he agreed to wanting some privacy for their more delicate conversations. After levitating the boys up past the stairs, (The idea was explain by Harry, who didn't really want to fight the staircase, as it turned into a slide, over and over again.)

Once in the Privacy of Hermione's dorm the boys, after commenting on the never before seen dormitory, got down to their more serious discussions. They talked a bit about Voldemort, and the war, Death Eaters, and possibly supporters. Hermione had the feeling that Harry was keeping something from both her and Ron, but as she knew the topic was so sensitive (They never mentioned Sirius by name, fearing Harry's reaction.) she wasn't going to comment on her thoughts. They then moved their topics on to the future, their ambitions, their hopes, dreams and fears. Hermione was always astounded at how much the three of them shared. Ron mentioned on how he was having second thoughts about being an auror, Harry on how it was all he could see himself doing, fighting dark wizards. While Hermione mentioned how she truthfully hadn't decided one way or another what she wanted to do.

"I mean, I like the idea of being a healer, of helping both the sick, and injured…but then learning has always been my passion, and to pass that one to others would be more then a dream come true…"

"What about doing both Hermione? Getting yourself a Healer's license, give a few years into helping people, then becoming a Master healer yourself? Teaching apprentices and fresh students everything you know?" Hermione was quite surprised by such a great, and intellectual idea, and coming from Ron made it all the more unique. "Ron that's a grand idea! I mean, I wouldn't get to spend the rest of my days at Hogwarts, like I dreamed…but it would be the best of both worlds."

"What about taking your apprenticeship with Madam Pomfrey? Or possibly coming back to help her, or eventually replace her? She can't be here forever, and if you want to stay Hogwarts as long as possible"

"Oh Harry that's a great idea as well! Oh…Merlin now I really have to get down to thinking about this all seriously. I mean if I'm going to be a healer, then I have to get top N.E.W.T.'s in Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, and who knows how many other classes, why I might have to take a few more classes even…I wonder if McGonagall would lend me that time turner again…"

"Hermione!"

"No, don't even think of using that thing again!"

"It almost drove you nuts last time!

"Barking mad is right, you'd become a lunatic in a month!"

Hermione burst out laughing at her two friends, tears coming to her eyes as she rolled on the floor.

"Oh you two are great…you know I would never use that dreaded thing again, it was driving me crazy!" Harry and Ron both looked at one another, twin grins on their face.

"I think it did drive her mad, what do you think Harry?"

"Well they say the best cure for sickness is laughter Ron, I think we may have to treat our dear Hermione."

"What are you two-"

With yells of surprise, they both dived for Hermione, pining her to the ground, they both took turns holding her down, while the other tickled her into submission.

"No s-stop…H-arry! Ronald!…please…" Hermione was unable though to finisher her sentence, she was having trouble drawing breath, much less talking as her body was racked with laughs. The two boys were relentless, keeping her down, as they took turns tickling her sides, her legs, and as soon as they could remove her shoes and socks, her very sensitive feet and toes.

"No! not my f-f-feet…No! please stop…I"

"I don't think we should stop do you Ron?" both boys were laughing themselves, fully enjoying the moment they were in.

"Nope not at all Harry, not until she promises to never study for a test again, or pester us about our grades!" Harry and Ron both laughed at the look of horror Hermione was trying to put on her face, while her eyes wept with tears from laughter.

"And stop answering every question in class, before the rest of us even process what it was! I can't even get a chance to think about it, before she's already half way through answering it!"

"Too right you are Ron! No more answering every question, miss little know it all!"

Hermione couldn't even answer as she laughed until her sides hurt, trying to roll her way out of it all, she was tickled all the more for trying to escape. She tried in vain to reach for her wand, but both her concentration, and her aim was useless. Stealing her and right out of her hand, Harry threw it on her bed, before going back at her sides, Ron hold her arms down on the ground.

"No magic now Hermione, that's cheating, what's gotten into you lately!." Ron and Harry were themselves having trouble controlling themselves from laughter, their faces red, their eyes moist.

"Just wait until I get my hands on you two." Hermione said in one breath.

"I'll give you a tickling charm, that you can't even dream of!"

It was later that night that Hermione said goodnight to her two best friends, as they retreated to their own dormitories for the evening. The two had eventually stopped their endless assault on Hermione, who like she had promised gave the two of them such a tickling charm, she was sure it left marks on them. They had then decided to just relax for the rest of the evening with some of Hermione's music. Hermione had done her best to introduce the two of them to muggle music during the last summer. Ron had never heard any before, and had found it all to be fascinating, asking endless questions about the difference between muggle and wizard music. While Harry, grown up in the muggle world, had been denied most forms of entertainment a normal teenager would have been allowed thanks to his vile relatives. Hermione had decided over summer, that she would have to educate her two clueless friends on the joys of life as a muggle teenager. It had taken her awhile, but she had eventually been able to enchant her CD player to run off of magic instead of batteries, now all it took was a simple charm, and it ran for a complete seven days. Needless to say the three of them were quickly getting addicted to Hermione's music, Ron even suggesting that she gets some copies of the band's albums, so they could have their own. Hermione was ecstatic that they had taken to her muggle interests so well.

"But Rock and Roll is the best music in the world, even wizards can't deny that!."

"Too true Hermione" Harry and Ron had said in unison.

Hermione smiled at the recent memories, of just a few minutes ago. She had really enjoyed her time with Ron and Harry, even the dreaded tickling had been enjoyable. _Once I got my wand back…_

_They really are the best friends a girl could ask for._

Hermione found herself wondering what the future would bring for the three of them, as she got ready for bed. She wondered what they would do after Hogwarts, if their dreams would come true like they hoped. _Would Ron become a Quidditch star like he wants too? Would Harry find himself a life outside of hunting dark wizards? Will we all settle down and start a family?_

Hermione hated getting all lost in day dreams of the future, she always felt it to be a waste of time. _Why dream of the future, when you can get busy and start to make it all in the present._

Removing her robe, and shoes, Hermione took off her outer clothes and after grabbing a pair of pajamas made her way to the bathroom.

She look at herself in the mirror, at her dull brown hair, her just barley tanned skin, her below average sized breasts. _Someone will think I'm beautiful someday won't they? Some handsome man, will think me to be the girl of his dreams, someone to marry, who will want to start a family with boring, plain Hermione Granger? Right?_

It was then that her eyes came to her chest, and she once again saw the newest addition to her body, her mysterious tattoo. _I…I had almost completely forgotten…_

Her eyes followed the outline of the tattoo on her body, she removed her bra, and followed the tattoo with her finger, feeling nothing but skin under it. _It feels the same, but it's not…it's a permanent reminder that my dreams can never come true…_

"Not if Dumbledore's wrong, and Malfoy is my soul mate…Then how could I ever have anything like a happy ending with him or anyone else?" _And how often is Dumbledore wrong?_ the idea brought the beginning of tears to her eyes…the idea that she was forever connected to Malfoy, whether it was one of the souls, or just the tattoo that she shared with him. It was something that she could never remove, could never change, and worst of all, could never explain, or tell the truth about. _No one would want me if I told them I'm the soul mate of a death eater…_The very thought angered her, like nothing else.

"Is this how my life is going to be then? Forever marred by something I couldn't help? My happy ending ruined before it starts, because Malfoy is a prat?…"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at her reflection, hoping to burn the design off her flesh with just the strength of her hate. "Soul Mates or no, I'm not going to let him ruin my life. I'll get my happy ending if I have to claw my way to it, I'll dig my claws in someone, and make them love me so much they won't even care about the blonde prick who shares one lousy tattoo with me."

_I'll be happy despite whatever this brings, whatever this means…whatever happens, I'm not going to just sit around and hope for the best…just like with Ron, I'm going to go and grab it for myself. Fuck the horns, I'll grab this bull by the balls._ Hermione felt happy with her new resolve, and after taking a quick shower she went off to bed, the days events though half enjoyable, half unbelievable had gotten to her, she was exhausted.

'_Hermione…' _

_Hands were moving on her body, burning their way up her sides, her arms…her legs._

_Hermione felt someone's lips on hers. A hungry, needy kiss stolen from her, she couldn't even make a noise before another one was on her. His hands were everywhere, and yet nowhere at the same time. When she wanted them to be at one point, they would move on to another, when she tried to move his hands herself she found her arms pinned down, and a mouth sucking on her neck._

_' Hermione your so beautiful…oh Gods, baby, your so perfect' Perfect was all she could think of to describe the feeling she had, the need she had with this person. She could tell that the two of them were completely naked, nothing but skin on skin. And yet that's exactly how she wanted it, she could feel their bodies combined heat in the room, a thin layer of sweat on one another. Hermione herself was feeling things she had never felt before, and she knew she wanted to stop._

_'Oh Hermione, Gods your so beautiful…I love you baby' she wanted to open her eyes and tell her mystery lover that she love him as well, at the very least loved what she was doing to him, but she couldn't open her eyes, the feeling was just too good._

_When Hermione felt him truly start the love making, she felt like she had personally skipped death and gone straight to heaven, it was blissful, perfect, and too good for her to ever want it to end._

_The two of them began slow, but skipped to fast quickly. Hermione taking the initiative and started to kiss her lover on every inch of skin she could reach. She couldn't remember why or how she was here, or who it even was that was doing these great things to her, but she didn't care. Its just too perfect…_

_'Hermione baby…please open your eyes…h-Hermione…let me see you, let me see your eyes.'_

_Hermione felt something building within her, and had the vaguest idea in the back of her mind what it was, the mans lips moved it way from her chest back to her neck, before leaving yet another burning kiss upon her lips. Hermione felt herself becoming warm, her senses were almost on overload. She opened her eyes and couldn't help but gasp out loud, whether surprise or pleasure she wasn't sure. Her lover's eyes were the most enchanting silver she had ever seen, she quickly got lost in them as they made love._

_'Hermione, do you love me"_

" _Yes…oh Gods you have no idea…"_

_'Tell me baby, I need to hear it…say your in love with me'_

"_Oh baby…oh I love, you oh…"_

_'Hermione I want this to last forever…_

' _love you so much…'_

"_Oh I love you too…oh"_

"Draco!" it was this that woke Hermione in the middle of the night, her body covered in sweat, her body wrapped in her sheets. It took her a few minutes to realize where she was, and why she was alone in her bed, her mysterious lover no where to be seen. It wasn't until she had fully realized what had just occurred that Hermione felt the blood drain from her face. _Oh dear Merlin…this can't be happening…please…I can't be feeling this…_

Deep down in the dungeons, Draco Malfoy woke from a similar dream, a different name on his lips though. Disoriented, it took him less time to fully figure out why he was awake, with such thoughts in his mind, his sheets in disarray, and his body sweating. _No…that didn't happen, I dreamt of someone else…it was someone else…yes…not her, never her…I don't, cannot, will not feel anything for her…I can't…_


	6. The Paths We Choose

A/N: Hey everyone, sorry that this chapter is later then usual, life's been busy and hectic, but here is chapter six, seven is finish and going through editing, and eight is almost finished itself...so don't fear, I will hopefully be updating sooner next time. Please enjoy the chapter, and review.

The next few mornings were full of stress for Hermione. After waking from her recurring dream, she found she had trouble sleeping, her eventless weekend left her with very little to do. Sitting around on her bed, looking over her homework, she occasionally ventured out into the Gryffindor common room to speak with Harry and Ron, or into the Great Hall for meals. Anyone who asked questions, was told that she was busy working on an extra credit project, or doing some research for some class or another. Hermione soon forgot which lies she had told to which people, it was only Harry and Ron she gave a taste of the truth too:

"I'm just having a really bad day, and I'm just going to lay around…I didn't really sleep too well last night."

I was _too busy obsessing over some impossible dream…A dream that couldn't, no shouldn't have happened. There's no reason for it to have happened, I mean I don't fancy him, sure he's decently good looking, but nowhere near enough to give me dreams…like….like that!_

_And Dumbledore didn't say anything about side effects, he just said that we were meant to spend the rest of our lives together. Not that if we didn't we would be plagued with horrid dreams, and the thought constantly going through your head over and over and over again, until you're being driven crazy!_

_Unless…this is part of the undisclosed 'symptoms' right? _

_Well of course it is! It has to be… I would never spend so much time thinking about something so impossible, and so entirely wrong. It's preposterous, completely and utterly pointless, a waste of my time to otherwise even give the idea the merit of thinking about it…_

_These constant thoughts, these doubts…and of course the dreams…have to be symptoms that Dumbledore just didn't tell us…or didn't know himself….Right?_

"Don't worry you guys, I'll be fine, I just need a day of rest, to get everything back together…get myself back on track."

But the next few days were not what Hermione had planned though when she tried to forget about the event in the forest, they were anything if normal. The first day back from the weekend, Hermione had once again failed to get much sleep. She woke either too late or too early for her own good, and was either rushing around all day long to get everything caught up, or tired and drowsy the whole day.

Wednesday rolled around, and for once Hermione was actually having a better day. She had gotten a full nights sleep, and was happily eating breakfast with Harry and Ron in the Great Hall. Though Harry and Ron were dreading the classes to come, Hermione was looking forward to them all, except for Potions. She wasn't quite sure what to expect from that class.

_Is Snape still going to want us to give him a list of effects? What is Drac-Malfoy going to say to me today? He's not going to blurt out the whole thing to everyone is he? Real or unreal, it's too embarrassing for everyone to even hear a word of! Me and Draco Malfoy…the idea sickens me…_

As if a magnet to her thoughts, Hermione's eyes traveled over to the Slytherin table, where she spotted the man of her thoughts. He was busy ignoring everything and everyone around him, as he methodically spooned oatmeal into his mouth, every once in a while staring down at the table, before glaring at it. _Must be reading the paper…_

Hermione though looked on in surprise, when Pansy of all people snatched whatever it was off the table to apparently read it for herself. It looked to just be a small bit of parchment, a letter it seemed. Malfoy did not look as if he was going to have anyone so much as touch his letter, before Pansy seemed able to comprehend that their must be something written on the paper, Malfoy whip his wand out and incinerate the paper while still in Pansy's hands. He glared at the now quietly crying girl with singed fingers, before turning back to his oatmeal, eating it now with even less enthusiasm.

Hermione turned away after that, she didn't want to get caught looking at the Slytherin table, all she needed was for some sordid rumor to be spread about her, and someone in Slytherin.

_Imagine what Lavender and Parvati would do if they had the information Dumbledore did…_

Hermione allowed herself to smile at the idea of the two bubbly dim wits having such knowledge. She was quite sure the world would come to a complete and very sticky end. _hmm…Civilization itself would fall, if not the entire human race, both muggle and wizard…_

It was thoughts like these that Hermione used to distract herself through the rest of breakfast, and on the way to her first and only shared class of the day with Ron and Harry, Potions.

Snape strode in with his usual icy grace, sneer and, black robes billowing behind him.Hermione sat back in her seat, for once unsure what she was supposed to do as she watched more then a few students make last minute corrections to their report on the effects of their potion. Hermione would have at least pretended to write such a report, but she had the feeling that even pretending to hand in a black piece of parchment with her name at the top, would qualify her for a detention or, at least a deduction in house points.

"All of you pass up your reports, with your vials attached to them now. I will not except any excuse for not having either items on hand, if one of them is missing you will receive a failed grade, no matter the quality of what work you might have done."

Hermione watched as everyone hurried to pass their papers up, students tying vials of potions together, green and red ones, some blue, others yellow or orange. Hermione felt a bit sad for the person who handed up what looked to be a messy brown potion, knowing full well that none of the potions should have been that color. Thinking now was the only safe chance she would have, Hermione spared a quick glance over too the Slytherin table, where she noticed that Draco seemed to be thinking along the same lines as she. This had the be the first time in history that two students weren't handing up their work, with excuses that Snape would have to actually except.

Hermione decided that sitting there wasn't going to get any questions answered and, raised her hand. not quite sure what she was even going to ask. _Um sir, do you remember that conversation we had the other day? The one that I'm not going to mention, because it's so embarrassing, and unbelievable? The one that involved Malfoy and I? Yes…that would go over smashingly._

"Professor, I'm sure you remember our conversation the other day, about our potion."

Hermione decided that a professional approach would set the best with Snape, who was always professional and straightforward. Hermione couldn't even imagine the man in anything less then his black teachers robes. _Or his long greasy hair…_

"Yes Miss Granger, I shall relieve you and Mr. Malfoy from handing in your potion, as well as your list of effects, and what exact decision have the two of you come to…On the cause of such a strange occurrence?" Hermione wasn't quite sure how to answer that one. _It's still being debated? Snape would love that one._

"Well sir-"

" It's exactly as you said sir, you were correct, as usual."

"Excellent Mr. Malfoy, though I expected no less, I'm glad to hear that common sense came through with the two of you."

Hermione felt something just then, a stabbing sensation in her stomach almost. Something close to annoyance, or anger. _Why do I feel like I almost wish Draco would have given a different answer?_ Hermione shook her head a bit, confused about everything today. _Stupid dreams is all it is…don't let something like that affect you Hermione, think logically. _Hermione was jarred from her inner monologue when Harry and Ron whispered to her, confused about what was going on.

"Hermione? What exactly did happen with the potion?" Harry's voice asked in concern. He was never completely trusting when it came to either Professor Snape, or Draco Malfoy.

" Yeah you never did actually tell us what happened the other night." Ron interjected.

Hermione kept her eyes on the Snape as she whispered out the corner of her mouth, not wanting to have any points deducted.

"That's just it, nothing happened."

"Ok Hermione, I know that you hate Malfoy, but you two took a lust potion, if you're too embarrassed to admit that something might of happened, it's alright. We're just concerned about you is all."

Hermione almost laughed at the mix up. _Like Malfoy and I would ever do something, that I would be too embarrassed to talk about…_It was until the images from her latest dream came back for the fiftieth time that Hermione realized that maybe Ron and Harry might have been right to think she would hide something like that from them.

"No, really…that's just it. The potion had no effect on either of us, we didn't feel anything towards each other, and nothing happened."

" The potion didn't effect either of you at all?"

"No."

"Not even in the slightest? I mean-"

"No, nothing…not a flicker of anything unusual."

"Wow imagine that, Hermione hates Malfoy so much, that not even a lust potion can change it."

Ron laughed quietly under his breath before adding his own comments.

"It's not the hate, it's his face. Ferret couldn't get a girl even with a lust potion!" Ron of course had forgotten where they were, and therefore said the last part out loud. The entire potions class, Snape and Malfoy included all turned to stair at the trio. Ron's face instantly lit up a bright red.

"Uh…whoops."

Harry looked down at his desk, not wanting to meet anyone's gaze. Hermione wasn't fast enough, and caught the look Malfoy had given her, her eyes widened when she realized that Malfoy now knew Ron knew about their potions lack of effects. She proceeded to bang her head against her desk, until Snape finally started removing points from Gryffindor.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for Mr. Weasley's tactless outburst." Ron moaned out in dismay, to which Snape then noticed the pounding that Hermione's head was making against the wood table.

"Miss Granger stop that this instant! Ten points from Gryffindor for your self destructive tendencies, I suggest you go talk to your Head Of House about your obvious lack of self esteem, and apparent common sense as well." Hermione felt herself blush, she hadn't thought how strange it would look to see someone repeatedly bang their head in embarrassment. _You forget, you've only been doing it for years, in private!…not in the middle of your bloody potions class!_

The class seemed to take a brief pause to breathe, neither side sure if Snape was done. Hermione briefly raised her now motionless head from her desk, to look Snape in the eye. His face hadn't moved an inch, though his smirk was now more pronounced.

"Oh and a further ten points, from Mr. Potter because he no doubt provoked Mr. Weasley's outburst, and Miss Grangers absence of common sense."

"But sir!"

"Silence Potter! Ten more points from Gryffindor! One more word, and you'll join me in detention ."

Harry removed his glare from the professor's sight, but he continued to mutter under his breath at his potions book, words like 'evil' 'bloody' and 'bastard' were clear enough to hear every once in a while. Ron's muttering's were much more understandable.

" Well looks like some things aren't out of the ordinary."

Hermione just sighed, as she ran a hand through her hair. _Besides Malfoy and I growing identical tattoo's and becoming stark naked in a forest…and lets not forget Dumbledore's theory of us being Romeo and Juliet reincarnated, bound to spend the rest of our lives happily together, or miserably apart…Yes nothing out of the ordinary at all._  
It was the first class of the day, and already Hermione could feel a major headache coming on.

The rest of the day hadn't gone any better, though there weren't any more encounters with Malfoy, Snape, or anyone that might make the day much more hellish. But Hermione found herself only half able to concentrate, her mind shot from all the thoughts going through her head, the doubts, the confusion, and the feelings. When her last bell rang, Hermione was the first out the door. For once she hadn't been dreading the bell, it had become her savior.

_What the hell is wrong with me? Concentrate Hermione, school is much more important than some insane prophecy, or some stupid blonde boy that you saw naked in the forest… just forget it, damnit!_

Hermione just couldn't stop coming back to that scene again and again. She felt nothing for the git, she knew that, but her mind wouldn't let her forget it. _Why the hell…Do I just need closure or something?…Maybe…That's it, I'll just confront Malfoy, and tell him that I hate him. That all of this changes nothing, and I don't know if Dumbledore is right or not, but that it doesn't matter in the least. My life is more important right now, I don't have to deal with such nonsense._

"That's not too over the top right?" Hermione wasn't quite sure why she was getting so worked up over all of this, but that wasn't important. _What's important is not the why, but the how. How can I end this, get it all behind me, and move on?…I have grades to worry about. N.E.W.T.'s are next year! I have to keep everything in top shape for the head girl position._

_Alright then, it's decided. I'm not doing this for any confusion in my thoughts, but just to get some closure, so I can move on with everything._

"That make sense right?"

"Should we be concerned that your talking to yourself again dear?" Hermione turned to her right, a painting of a few elderly women sat around a table playing cribbage. They were now looking at her with concern on their faces.

"Uh no…don't worry about me. I'm perfectly fine…"

Hermione quickly sat up and left the hallway, promising never to go ponder her thoughts so vocally, while in the presence of the school paintings ever again.

Hermione's mind was running frantically, she wasn't able to concentrate with her mind overwhelmed, and instead of further making her day hectic. She had directly after her last class, wandered through the castle trying to find a secluded spot to get all her thoughts in order, completely disregarding the paintings. This wasn't the first time she had done this, and she knew it wouldn't be the last.

In her first year is seemed she needed time to think almost everyday; that was until she became friends with Harry and Ron. Second and third year she had either gone to Moaning Myrtle or Hagrid with her problems. _And something tells me Hagrid wouldn't be the best person to go to with this kind of problem…with his hate of Malfoy, and his horrid ability at keeping secrets. But anything's better than Moaning Myrtle now, imagine that in just five years of people talking to her, and she's no longer a emotional wreck who cries all the time, but the schools resident therapist and creepy flirt Peeping-Tom from beyond the grave._

Indeed Myrtle had gained some popularity with the younger students, and now it wasn't too strange to hear about younger girls pouring their adolescent hearts out to the small ghost. Or the occasional boy running out of the bathrooms screaming in nothing but a towel, about how Myrtle had popped up for a visit. Hermione had long ago decided that her days of ever going near her bathroom were long over.

Walking through the halls, Hermione figured that she had just enough time to catch the last of dinner, before she moved to talk to Malfoy. _If you want something done, then you have to do it yourself…No reason to wait for Malfoy to come to me._

Hermione was not looking forward to dinner being over, but she figured she had let the problem go on long enough, She promised herself as she sat down at her usual spot at the Gryffindor table, next to Harry and across from Ron, that by this time the next day, all her problems would be over and done with. Namely those involving Malfoy, and Dumbledore's wild theory of them being connected in such a prophecy. It was all turning into another embarrassing memory to be shoved to the back of her mind, next to turning into a cat, and having her teeth grow past her chin. Looking around the Great Hall, Hermione figured she may as well locate the blonde boy, so she could have an easier time trying to find him as dinner subsided. _Come on Malfoy show your pointed ferret face…_  
It wasn't until she had found herself triple checking the Slytherin table, that she realized, Malfoy wasn't even at dinner.

Potions class had just ended, and Draco was in the process of walking out the door when he remembered. _The letter…_

Turning around he brushed past his fellow students, he briefly noticed Granger and her two boy toys leave the room like they were being chased out by werewolves, Granger looking particularly troubled

Walking up to the Professor's desk, Draco saw that Snape was busy rummaging through some of the potions reports he had just been given. Clearing his throat Draco watched as Snape looked up at him, his face as guarded as ever, his eyes betraying nothing, not confusion, not hate or love. One of the reasons why Draco had always respected his Head Of House, was because he was a text book Slytherin. Loyal to himself above all others, and steadfastly serious in all his work.

"Mr. Malfoy, is there something that I can help you with?"

Draco smirked at Snape's tone, both sarcastic and annoyed. A tone he was sure was used against younger more impressionable students, Draco knew Snape valued his privacy and time alone.

"Actually sir, I was hoping I could meet with you in private? There are some…things, I would like to discuss with you."

Snape's eyes grazed over his face for a moment, and Draco felt almost like he should look away. Snape's gaze seemed to pierce through him, and though it made him all the more uncomfortable, Draco was never one to back down. Snape seemed to finally find what he was looking for, as his eyes leveled themselves with Draco's and his tone became much more kinder, more the gentle yet strict teacher he usually was to Draco

"Alright, Draco, come…Let's go to my quarters, I assure you that we will have the utmost privacy, though I warn you. That this better be important, I will not abide in any childishness in my personal domain."

Draco smirked at his Head Of House, as he began to stand up.

"Of course, sir. I understand perfectly."

Draco was quite surprised by Snape's remark when he told him the contents of his letter.

"And you are sure that this, is a genuine letter Mr. Malfoy?" Draco laughed at the very idea.

"Please Snape, you know of my family's paranoia, we are very good at keeping secretes, I assure you, this was written in my family's personal code, only a Malfoy knows it…it's impossible to fake."

Snape only raised an eyebrow at the young man before him, his face was as calm as ever, but Draco knew his mind was as always, running a mile a minute. No conversation that took place between true Slytherins was one of spontaneity. Every word, every sentence, and movement had to be planned out.

'Never reveal what you don't want someone to know' was a common rule in the house.

"Mr. Malfoy, though I am quite well aware of your family's pride, and arrogance at their own power, _I assure you_, that nothing is impossible. The Dark Lord survived the killing curse, as did Potter. Something that has never happened in the history of Magic. Believe me, nothing is impossible my boy, never forget that you can always be thwarted, can always be stopped, and that no secret is safe as long as it exists."

Draco was silent at this, he had never known the Professor to be so outspoken about something.

"I understand sir, thank you for your advice…but I was wondering, if you could possibly give me some assistance on the matter, some first hand knowledge that might allow me to better prepare myself?"

Draco still did not like how the two of them were avoiding the subject outright, how they both danced around it, and how Snape did not seem to be proud of what was going on with him. _Shouldn't he be ecstatic? Lucius actually seemed happy for once, surely Snape should be just as proud of me?_

"Are you sure, that this is exactly what you want Draco? This is not something to take in lightly, especially at so young an age."

Draco was now actually confused, this was not the way he thought the conversation had gone. Though he had comically pretended that Snape might beak out a few brandy's and that they would toast his successes like a birthday, he surely hadn't expected something like this, something so…strange.

"Surely you are not trying to dissuade me from this Professor? Aren't you happy that I have been given such a unique opportunity to advance myself at such a young age?"

Snape's eyes were as closed off as ever, betraying nothing at all. Draco for the first time hated it, because he knew that his own mask was not as well controlled as the older mans before him.

"Mr. Malfoy you must understand, that I am looking out for you. As your teacher I have to make sure everything you do is in your best interests. Making a foolish, decision without thinking it through, would destroy all the potential that is in you boy. You must understand that at least."

"You sound like you think I am not strong enough to handle it, I am no child Professor."

"Don't act smart with me _boy!_ You are a child, not even seventeen yet. Stop thinking about glory and think about facts. Life and Death, torture, killing, imprisonment, ostracized from your family. All these things are possible. Do not, for one second think you are something special because you are a Malfoy. Names mean nothing in something like this, no matter what your father thinks!" Draco almost felt a smile coming to his face at that.

"This is something I have been trained for, since I could walk Snape…my father, as you put it, took every measure to make sure I could handle this. I am not some untrained Hufflepuff. The dedication, the will, and the strength is easy for me. I just came to ask for your assistance, I do not need it myself."

Snape banged his fists against his desk, his eyes now showing anger, the first emotion all day.

"If you think like that, then you are far from ready…Draco you have no idea what it's like, do you? The stories your father's told you were nothing but embellished glory, tall tales that made him look good. Your father was naïve like you, and it almost got him killed on a number of occasions!"

"You sound like I would be making a mistake! Like you made a mistake! Are you even loyal to-"

"Loyalty has nothing to do with it, its determination Draco…once you make your decision, there is no loyalty behind it. Your father may have given you stories of great battles, and grand things he's done, but he is too shiny eyes to see to the very bottom of it. We are at war Draco, there is nothing exciting about it, for either side." Draco was now completely confused, this wasn't like Snape at all, this couldn't even be Snape could it?_ Imperius maybe? Or is he a traitor?_

"You're saying some big things Snape, You know that I could report you."

Snape glared at the boy before him, and before Draco even knew what was happening, he found himself blasted back through the air. His back came crashing down hard against the far wall. He hadn't even heard a thing, hadn't even seen Snape draw his wand, but now before him stood a furious Snape, his wand outstretched like a sword, ready to run Draco through.

"DO NOT THREATEN ME BOY!" Snape's voice rang through the room, its echo's came back and Draco almost covered his ears with his hands. Reaching for his wand, Draco barly got it out in the air, when Snape had already banished it away. Draco didn't know what to do now, he had no idea what was going on. Or even who to trust. Snape lowered his wand and spoke more calmly to Draco.

"You speak of being prepared, and yet you didn't get a single spell off at me Draco, that is what I'm talking about…you are not prepared, because this is something that you can't be prepared for. If you want to do this, then do it. I am not your father, I am not your guardian, but most importantly I am not you. Only you can make this decision. I suggest you think about it young Mister Malfoy, this is not something that your father can make for you. It is your decision alone."

Snape quickly walked back and retrieved Draco's wand from the floor, tossing it to the blond boy on the ground he moved back to his desk.

" This is not something you can back out of young Malfoy, make this decision if you must, but know its not something you can turn back from. And know that nothing I tell you, can prepare you for what you shall go through. It has nothing to do with loyalty Draco, remember that."

Draco nodded, his back hurt from the wall, his chest from the spell Snape had cast at him. He didn't know what to do now, but he knew that he could no longer trust Snape, but what exactly did that mean, he didn't know.

"I still plan on going through with it sir…"

"Then do as you must Draco, but do not think that your name, or you yourself have any power over me. I have been doing this for before you were born, and believe me, you never get used to it. It never gets easy, and everyone regrets it at some point, even your father…"

Draco decided to ignore that last sentence, it was too much for him.

"Alright sir, then I shall speak to you in the morning. Tonight at midnight I shall take the Dark Mark."

Draco walked out of the Potions Masters private office, and continued to make his way to the common room. He didn't plan on going to any of his classes, he didn't know what he was supposed to do now. He had thought he was ready for anything, but with the way Snape dealt with him so easily, he wasn't sure about anything anymore. _If Snape's that quick and powerful…that angry, and vindictive…What is the Dark Lord like?_

Hours later Draco found himself crawling his way over the Hogwarts grounds. It was early, almost three in the morning he thought, though he had lost track of time some time ago.His body was sore, bleeding, and he was sure broken in at least three places. His Hogwarts robes that he had worn to the ceremony had been all but burnt off his body, replaced with his first pair of Death Eater robes, hood, and mask…which had almost been completely destroyed itself by the rounds of spells sent his way.

His blond hair was stuck to his head by both sweat and blood, one eye was almost completely swollen shut, his right wrist had broken sometime through his ordeal, and he had to switch to his left hand for spell casting, which was just the beginning of his downfall. Draco could barly move his left leg from the amount of punishing hexes and stinging jinxes sent at him. He had lost count of all the spells sent his way, and he had only been familiar with less than half of them.

If there was one thing that he had learned, it was that the Dark Arts were both great, and powerful, but all together horrible and endless. Always changing, always different. And that Snape was right…it was not about loyalty, but about servitude. The Dark Lord was less a Great Lord of the Purebloods, as he was a Dark God of Death to his followers. Draco had been appalled at the way he was expected to treat his lord, by groveling on his hands and knees, kissing his boots, and robes. _A Malfoy bows before no one, for there is no equal…_

Apparently Malfoy senior had forgotten all this as he sat all but crying in servitude to his 'Lord'

But Draco knew that if he wanted to escape the night alive he had to do the same. And he foolishly thought that the taking of the mark would be the easiest part of the ordeal, a few whispered words, maybe an oath or two, and Draco would be a Death Eater.

_No one said anything about the blood sacrifice, the first kill, the black dagger, and the pain._

Draco had on occasion felt the power behind Cruciatus, but this was something new. _Like dipping my arm in molten metal, in magma, in the heat of the sun._

Draco had finally made it to the doors of Hogwarts, but he barly knew if he could stand, much less find the strength to open the doors. After the Ceremony was over, after the test duels, the tests of pain, of tolerance, Draco had thought either his Father or Snape himself, who were both present at the ceremony, would help him. But both had turned their backs on him, and left him to find his own way back. Only Snape offered anything to him, though only the two of them heard it.

_"I warned you Draco, some things you can't take back, no matter how much you want to…"_

Draco had almost killed himself when he apparated to Hogwarts, but was somehow able to keep his consciousness and force himself to crawl.

Reaching up Draco used the steps of the castle, to prop himself against the great doors of the school. He didn't try to scream, or bang against the door to ask for help. Such a thing would be suicide, he was still in his Death Eater robes.

Draco didn't know how long he sat there gathering his strength, but all he knew was that he couldn't think of a single way to get himself all the way to the Slytherin common room, to change clothes, and crawl into bed. He knew going to the Hospital Wing would also be a bad idea, he had no explanation for his wounds, many of which were obviously spell oriented, and no alibi for why he was missing from school for such a long period of time.

_Snape was right, I really did have no idea what I was getting into…_

Draco reached over and tore what was left of his sleeve on his left arm.

Burned into his flesh for all the world to see was the Dark Mark, still holding a black tinge it looked angry and violent, a forever constant reminder of his night.

_What am I going to do now? Was this even a good idea?_

Draco started to regret his decision to take the mark, a thought he never would of imagined coming into his mind.

Suddenly a sound startled him out of his thoughts, one that brought both joy and horror to his face, the castle doors were opening.

Trying his best to hide the obvious evidence against him, Draco tried to feign unconsciousness, and all but fell backwards onto the hard stone steps. Seconds passed as Draco wondered what was going on, he couldn't hear anything, and with his eyes shut, he couldn't see a thing. Draco half hoped the person would identify themselves, so he could at least know who it was that had found him. He figured he was safest with a teacher, Snape being the main person to trust. But at this moment Draco would have gladly let Dumbledore help him out. _Just as long as it's not Potter…anything but him…he wouldn't just leave me here, he'd probably finish me off._ Draco almost shivered at the idea of being found half dead in death eater robes, by none other then the boy who lived. _That would be worse than death…he would try his best to out due what's already happened to me._

Draco was just about to give up his charade to see who or what it was that had opened the door, when at last the person spoke. And Draco didn't know whether he should be grateful, or afraid. _You have got to be kidding me…_

"So this is where you've been all night Malfoy, I've been waiting all night to confront you, and here you are half dead, crawling your way back from your master's summons…stop pretending to be unconscious, I know you just got here." Draco opened his eyes to see one of the last people he would of thought had been to find him like this, Hermione Granger of all people. Trying to come up with something scathing, all Draco managed was a cough, blood dribbling down his mouth. His throat had long ago been too painful to speak through.

"I should leave you here to die Malfoy, you know that right?" Draco actually hoped that for once Granger's Gryffindor side would win out and she would do the honorable thing.

"But I have too many things I have to say to you, and seeing how you are going to owe me your life in the coming hours, I think I'll take advantage of it." Draco could only think of one thing as his vision went cloudy and he actually fell unconscious.

_She could have been a Slytherin in another life…_

A/N: Hey I just got a thought, take the next five seconds and give me a review of whatever your thoughts are right now! I don't care if its  
'my eyes hurt from the small text' or  
'you know...Pizza sounds good tonight.'

Give me your thoughts!

-Sises_  
_


	7. Cruciatus and Blood Purity

A/N: I would like to appologize for how late this chapter is in coming, its actually been finished for over a month now, but complications with my life, and the life of my beta forced us both to forget about the fic for a while. Now I have work and school to deal with, so chapters will be few and far inbetween. BUT this one is done (though I had to forego editing, to get it out) and since I can't sleep tonight, I'm going to finish chapter 8. I appologise once again for the lateness, please forgive me (or yell at me if it makes you feel better) by sending me lots of reviews.

-Sises

Draco lapsed in and out of consciousness for what felt like hours. Every time he briefly opened his eyes he was in another place, another hallway, another floor, somewhere different within Hogwarts.

Hermione had to stop for what seemed to be the hundredth time. They were currently on the seventh floor, Hermione had knowingly bypassed any teachers, and Madam Pomfrey knowing that their would be too many questions to ask. Too much of a chance for Draco to get in trouble before Hermione had what she wanted from him. She then decided to take him to the room of requirement, where she knew she would be able to get him the same healthy atmosphere as the hospital wing, with the comforts of not having a stuffy medi-witch on your case all day. Hermione though only knew basic medi-magic and was only able to treat some of Draco's most superficial wounds, she knew that once they got to their destination, she would have to do a bit more then just cure his small cuts and scrapes.

She did though, know just enough about magic and dangerous life threatening wounds, that casting any unnecessary magic on the person was more then just dangerous, it was just plain stupid. Because of this levitating Malfoy's unconscious body would be a bad idea, both because it might complicate his condition in a way Hermione would not know, but the chance that she would bump his head, or broken limps against the walls, or drop him down a flight of stairs, it was too much of a risk. So Hermione had only one option left, she had to carry him or get someone to help her.

It was hard work, and Hermione several times through the night had to stop a rest. Draco Malfoy may not be as tall as Ron, or as broad as Harry, but he was still a guy, and Hermione being a few inches shorter then him, and much less muscular was finding it an almost impossible task to carry the blonde herself. But she carried on, many times having to force her already tired legs and arms to life him up past the stairs, where exhausted she would gentle rest his body on the ground, while she took a moment to catch her breath.

Finally though they had reached the seventh floor, and Hermione was now briefly thinking over how exactly she planned on taking care of the young Malfoy until he was well enough to answer her questions. Looking over at what appeared to be a sleeping blonde, Hermione winced at his wounds. She had at first sight of him of course seen the damage that had been done to him, but had thought little of it. Occasionally she had saw and or felt small droplets of blood falling onto herself, or the floor. But now the damage was much more noticeable.

His face, usually so pale, and pointed, was covered in numerous cuts and abrasions, more then one large angry bruise was visible as well. His torn robes did little to mask his battered body, with dried blood on his hands, wrist, and forearm, one visible part of his upper torso was burnt, while most of his left arm was completely uncovered from his robe's, no doubt destroyed in whatever hell he had gone through just hours ago. Hermione had realized early on that his wrist was broken, and possible one of his legs, she wasn't sure if he had any broken ribs, or internal injuries. She figured that his weak, though solid breathing was a good sign towards the negative though.

"What have you gotten yourself into Malfoy? Surely you know that all this is too much for even your arrogant self to handle?" she whispered, it was late and the castle deathly quiet, her voice echoed ever so slightly through the halls. Hermione gave herself one more moment to catch her breath before she moved over to Draco once more.

"I hope you know that you owe me so much right now Malfoy, your going to be slapping yourself for all those comments you made to me over the years, all that dirty blood bullshit is going to come back biting you in the ass tonight." Malfoy was obviously unresponsive, but Hermione felt it strange to be so silent around him, even when in this form. It felt more soothing to herself, for her to talk to him, while she carried him. It distracted her from the fact that she was carrying/half dragging a comatose boy around, a Death Eater, and the one person who hated her above all in Hogwarts. "You're going to owe me so much Draco."

Hermione had finally managed to once again hoist the blond onto her shoulders, his uninjured arm half wrapped around her neck, she herself took hold of both legs and tried her best to move forward, though it was painful for herself to carry him like this, their wasn't anything else she could do for either of them.

What was only minutes felt like hours, but Hermione had finally gotten the two of them outside the room of requirement, trudging along she pasted the room three times with Malfoy on her back.

_I need a place where I can help heal Malfoy, I need a place where I can help heal Malfoy…_

As usual once she had reached the third turn, a door magically appeared in the middle of the wall. Positioning herself so she could turn the door knob, while still holding on to Malfoy, Hermione all but toppled into the room, as her balanced gave out.

All but crashing to the ground, Hermione tried not to let Malfoy fall as she looked around the room in awe.

It was very much like a private study, the walls were lined with bookshelves, expensive oak tables, with comfortable looking padded chairs were around one wall, a fireplace with a fur rug against the other. On the opposite side of the room were two beds, one was a queen size with four poster wall hangings, even bigger then those in the dormitories. It had a large quilt over it, with the Hogwarts emblem upon it, some feet away near a corner, was a smaller bed with four poster hangings, this one had the emblem of Medi-Wizardry upon it, two crossed wands with sparks at both ends, in the shape of a cross.

Some time later Draco opened his eyes to find himself in a very unfamiliar room. His body was still very sore, and weak, and he knew that he was quickly going to fade once more into unconsciousness. Not knowing where he was, Draco feared no one else did as well, he struggled to move, but could only twitch slightly, his mouth though sore could make some rudimentary sounds.

"H-Hel…Help."

It sounded weak and pathetic to even Draco's damaged ears, but apparently was not for naught. As seconds later a concerned looking Hermione Granger was peering down at him.

"Try not to talk Malfoy, your still really hurt…can you even understand me? Malfoy, try to focus on my eyes."

Draco's vision was fading in and out rapidly, Hermione's voice sounding like it was coming from a long distant, like an echo. His eyes were just half closed when he felt her place her hand on his forehead.

"Oh you have a fever…but there are so many books here, so many curses…what happened to you Malfoy?"

Malfoy was only able to distinguish the words fever, and what happened to you, before his mind seemed to leave him once more.

"Crucio…" his voice garbled out, just before his eyes closed and he fell back into an uncomfortable sleep.

That was what Hermione had feared, she knew that he had been suspected to a large number of curses, both great and small, and that many of them were just physical effects. But it was this strange weakness and fever that Hermione was unable to understand.

She had spent the last two hours pouring over all the books in the room, it seemed the room had almost every single book on curses and counter curses, medi-wizardry and potions that would ever be needed to aid an injured person.

Before Draco's head was even back on his pillow, Hermione was back at the table, now covered in numerous books, and pieces of parchment, all covered in minute handwriting, lists of curses with effects on them, aliments for all kinds of things.

Brushing a large pile of things to the ground, Hermione grabbed a rather detailed book of Medi-wizardry on the Unforgivables, and quickly moved to the section on the Cruciatus Curse.

_The Cruciatus Curse, known as the second of the most unforgivable curses, is more commonly referred to as the torture curse. Use of such a curse against another Witch, Wizard, or Muggle earns them a life sentence to Azkaban prison…_

Hermione skipped a bit ahead, past the discover of the curse, down to the part on effects and cures.

_…The victim will usually start to twitch most violently, as all their muscles tighten and loosen at various times, the pain is very much magical in origin, as no physical signs are left as to the cause of the pain, only after effects. Extended use of the curse on a person, causes the curse to move on past the more major muscles, onto minor ones, such as the fingers, and feet, eventually onto joints and the jaw. If the curse is sustained long enough, it moves onto the blood vessels, causing the blood to flow both forward and backwards in some places, causing great pain and eventual damage to the heart, lungs and kidneys, as well as severe brain damage. _

_Death in extended cases is almost a certainty. As once the curse starts to effect the blood vessels in the brain, hemorrhaging takes effect, and eventually the brain itself starts to rupture. Only immediate and skilled Medi-wizardry can begin to save a victim at this point, though possible it always leaves the victim less of a person, usually with 90 loss of all higher brain functions, complete memory loss, and loss of the ability to understand or respond to much of anything._

Hermione shivered at the image that some of these things gave her, she tried her best not to picture Malfoy under the effects of such a curse, or the Longbottom's, who she knew must of experienced the worst of the curse, as they were even now still in a semi vegetable state at Saint Mungo's.

Hermione flipped a few more pages, until she came to the section labeled treatment.

_Depending on the duration of the curse, treatment outside of licensed medi-wizardry is possible. Most of the minor effects of Cruciatus are extended feelings of pain hours after the curse was used, inexplicable twitches and possible loss of conscious mobility for small periods of time. High fever, and extensive pain in the joints. All of these minor after symptoms can be treated by rubbing the effected area in Oswood Jelly, most notably over the chest, arms, and legs, and most importantly, to any area that is experiencing pain. _

_The more serious symptoms, those of seizures, bleeding from the mouth, nose, ears and possibly eyes, foaming at the mouth etc.. Are much more serious and require those skills of a trained medi-wizard or witch, though using the before mentioned Oswood jelly, as well as several pain reliving, blood loss, and calming potions can help the situation until profession help is available. Some recovering patients noted that a calming atmosphere while recovering also seemed to help, though this is more of a psychological recovery, see Memphis Dragoon's works on the Psychological effects of Cruciatus circa 1948 for more details…_

Hermione wasted little time searching through potions books for the Oswood jelly, she had heard of it vaguely before in her research, and she knew that it wasn't a complicated creation.

_Oh where is it…_

Flipping through numerous books she finally found it in _Non Liquid Potions for the Household Witch._

Oswood jelly was a very common pain reliever, used to help relieve the pain of broken bones, the swelling of bruises and other likewise things. It was commonly used by parents for minor to serious accidents, before the child was taken to Saint Mungo's. Hermione quickly scanned the list of ingredients, and was happy to note that she had such things in her potions bad.

She didn't waste a thought about how panicky she had become after reading the book on Cruciatus, and quickly summoned her potions bag, and because she knew she was going to be here for several more hours, well into her class after breakfast (which couldn't be more then a few hours from now she realized) she also summoned a few articles of clothing for herself, as well as her now magical CD player, and a few other things.

Hermione worked for what felt like her to be hours, her body finally starting to admit just how tired she was. She quickly took every last scrap of ingredient she needed, and proceeded to make a very large batch of the jelly.

Hermione for the first time that night took note of the time on her watch, she was surprised, to see that it was nearly six in the morning, and she knew that she was going to be missed at breakfast, not to mention her classes. _But so is Malfoy, and no matter what I can't just leave him here…but I can't tell anyone either…_

Hermione decided to let the matter go for later, thinking she would cross that bridge when it was before her. Looking over her creation, she actually smiled at it. Oswood jelly was named for the smell it had, it was a clear color, with a bit of honey look to it. And it smelled very strongly of something resembling cinnamon and red oak wood, a smell Hermione had to admit was both sharp but pleasing at the same time.

She quickly moved her now full cauldron over to the large bed Malfoy occupied, and stopped for a second to think about what she now had to do. Malfoy was still very much unconscious, and Hermione was not about to even try and wake him, for fear of causing him anymore pain. _But then how do I know where to apply the jelly? If he can't tell me where to put it, what should I do?_ Hermione realized that she had little choice left for her. Moving the blankets down past his feet, Hermione removed what was left of his clothing, for modesty's sake she left his boxers on him, but the rest had to go. Looking over her patients body, Hermione had to admit, that had he not been encased in cuts, dried blood, and bruises, that he would be quite the handsome fellow. _No time to think about that Hermione…get to work_.

Hermione quickly dipped her hands in the cauldron and took out a handful of the jelly, which surprisingly felt very similar to Vaseline, but had a warm touch to it, making her hands tingle pleasantly. very gently she then started to rub it into Malfoy's chest, she worked quickly but calmly, wanting to make sure that since she didn't know exactly where he was hurting, that she covered everything. She while she worked, then took the time to look over the tattoo that had started all the strangeness that had been happening these last few days. It was just as it had been the first night, intricate and though she hated to admit it, beautiful, as its perfect detail, clashed perfectly with Malfoy's pale chest. Like a mark of honor, it seemed to be the very connection between the two of them. Hermione wasn't quite sure why she didn't seem as bothered by it anymore. Maybe she was getting used to it.

She quickly worked her way over his chest, up his arms and shoulders. She rubbed just a bit of it on his face, and neck, before moving to his wrists and hands. Hermione looked down at her cauldron and noticed that she had more then she would ever of needed of the ointment, but reassured herself, that she wasn't sure how many times she would be needing to apply it, and it was better to be safe then sorry.

Moving on, Hermione quickly covered his stomach, before started then at his feet, calmly though quickly rubbing the warmth into his feet, and up his legs.

Though she would never admit it for her entire life to come, Hermione's cheeks started to burn as her hands rose higher and higher on Malfoy's legs. She knew that this was wrong, that she was in the place of a doctor, and him, her patient. But Hermione couldn't deny that had this been any other situation, it would have been high erotic. Never in her life had she ever imagined herself rubbing anything into Malfoy's half naked body, especially one that left a warm tingling in her hands. She hated to admit it, but she was enjoying this particular task much more then she knew she should, while feeling his body underneath her hands

She quickly finished rubbing it into his thighs, and moved away before her mind became even more perverted. _This is sick Hermione, he's really hurt, and here you are panting over his body like some kind of slut! All you need is for him to wake up, and find out he's naked, while your all but ready to jump him…._

She glanced over at her patient, guilt on her face, though a blush still visible. _But he is beautiful…soft skin, yet hard muscles at the same time, wonderful hair…Stop it! This sick…obsession is over!_ Shaking her head Hermione moved the blankets up to cover up Malfoy's body, so that he would at least be comfortable while he slept, she wasn't completely sure if her administrations had even worked, but she knew that as tired as she was, and as unfocused as her mind apparently was at the moment, what she needed was a good nights sleep before she did anything more with him.

Putting a strong locking charm on the door, and a silent alarm to wake herself up in no more then eight hours, Hermione moved over to the smaller bed and settled herself in, it was barley seconds after her head hit the pillow that she fell into a deep sleep.

Hermione awoke at the sounds of a buzzing in her ear, one that reminded her so much of her hated alarm clock back home. Opening her eyes she vaguely tried to remember what day it was, and what classes she had today, when she all but jumped out of bed.

Looking around her Hermione noticed that all the events of last night, had not just been a strange dream, and that everything from finding Malfoy covered in blood and Death Eaters robes, to carrying him up seven floors, to rubbing magical jelly into his skin was all too real, and not a product of her overly annoying imagination.

Looking around her, Hermione tried to get her bearings straight again. She looked over all her notes and work from the other night while she dressed in some fresh clothing. She hadn't been scared that her patient was watching her, as the first thing she had done was check to see if he had woken, and he was still in a deep sleep, though some of his bruising and pain seemed to have lifted.

Checking her potions cauldron, she saw that she still have about half a cauldron full of the ointment, and that it was still as fresh as it had been the night before, the tingling sensation still effected her when she reached her hand in to test it. Taking a better look at Malfoy, she saw that he seemed pleasantly comfortable, though still in a bit of pain, as he winced once or twice when he attempted to roll over.

Hermione was just contemplating giving him another dose of Oswood jelly, when she remembered.

_Today's Thursday! We both have classes today! _Checking her watch, Hermione noticed that she didn't have classes today, but that she had classes now. It was just after lunch, both her and Draco had missed all their morning classes, breakfast and lunch. _And Draco's not even awake yet! How long am I going to have to take care of him, how am I going to explain any of this?_ Hermione was very near to a panic attack at the looks she knew she was going to get when she told people she was busy playing nurse to Draco Malfoy, after she found him half dead in a Death Eaters attire. _What am I going to do now!_ Looking around the room as if asking it for answers, Hermione was surprised to see a large envelope in violent purple on the middle of the table, walking up to it, she noticed that it was written in a very flowing script.

_Miss Granger, and Mr. Malfoy_

Opening it Hermione was quick to find that it was from Dumbledore.

_Miss Granger, as I'm sure Mr. Malfoy is still very much asleep right now, I want to let you know that what you did last night was a very brave and kind thing to do. Not many people in your situation would of done half of what you did, and I commend you (as well as reward you 50 points to Gryffindor)._

_Professor Snape told me of Mr. Malfoy's recruitment into Lord Voldemort's ranks, and that this ordeal would be particularly dangerous for him. He had not revealed, nor should you, that he is a member of the Order. Mr. Malfoy is to firmly believe that Snape is a willing Death Eater loyal to his lord._

_But as you are the only one who has access to him at the moment ( I did not want to break your locking charm, as it is horrible rude to do so without permission.) I am giving the two of you complete freedom to return to classes when you are both ready, I have told the staff and students, with Professor Snape's approval, that the two of you are completing a project for him, and will be otherwise absent from the school for an unknown amount of time. You may of course ask myself, Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, or Madam Pomfrey for help at anytime, though only Snape and myself are aware of the situation. Or you may take care of it yourself as you have so planned. Though I would normally suggest seeking professional help, Madam Pomfrey's hospital wing, is a bit too public a place to intelligently take care of Mr. Malfoy as any sighting of his mark would prove dangerous to himself and the school. Rumors of any possible connection to Lord Voldemort would no doubt spread regardless of the mark seen or not, and with your connection to him, I would not want either of your reputations to be tarnished. Please write back if you need anything, I shall have Dobby monitor your room if you need any assistance._

_Sincerely, _

_Headmaster Albus Dumbledore._

_P.S. That is an excellent concoction of Oswood jelly, just be sure to apply it until Mr. Malfoy is able to comfortably move all his limbs, and all should be well._

Hermione placed the letter back on the table, and allowed herself a sigh of relief. _At least now I don't have to worry about people wondering where I am, missing classes…._

Turning back to the matter at hand Hermione wasn't quite sure what she should do though. Though it would be a relief to hand him over to Madam Pomfrey, she for some unknown reason, did not want him to be found out as a Death Eater, and though she hadn't thought about it in several hours. She still did plan on putting all the prophecy nonsense behind the two of them once and for all. _As soon as I can get a coherent word out of his mouth, until then I…guess I'll just have to take care of him…bastard will owe me so much when I'm done with him, and I'll make sure he knows it too._

Moving back to her patients side, Hermione once again removed his covers, and took note of his beaten body. Some of the lesser bruises and cuts had faded away, though his more pronounced ones were still their, his wrist and leg were still heavily hurt, and Hermione was sure they were hurting him. Taking note of what seemed to be the most painful area's, she once again moved her cauldron over to her side, and dipped her hands into the ointment, its warmth quickly spread through out both her hands, her fingers feeling like they had just awaken from a deep sleep. Moving her handful of goop onto Malfoy's chest, she began to rub it into his skin once more. This time though Hermione was startled out of her work, when suddenly Malfoy began to move around a bit, his eyes flickered once, twice, and then opened.

He started at her for a moment, as he began to focus his eyes on her.

"Granger, what exactly do you think your doing?" his voice was hoarse from lack of use, and probably a spell or two, but there was no mistaking Draco Malfoy and his drawl.

Hermione felt her mouth open a close a few times, but she couldn't think of anything to say. Somewhere she noticed that her hands were still on his chest, somewhat still rubbing the jelly into his skin, but she was just focused on his face, and his gray eyes looking just at her.

Malfoy seemed to noticed that he was being touched, and looked down to see her rubbing a strange smelling gel into his naked chest, he briefly wondered how he got to where he was and why he happened to be naked when Hermione found her voice.

"I found you outside the school entrance, you were…half dead, and in your Death Eater robes…"

Hermione watched as Draco's gaze came back to her, for once she saw an unmistakable look of fear in them, before they disappeared and his usual mask was up, showing nothing at all.

"W-what are you talking about G-Granger?" Removing one hand from his chest she reached over and slightly grazed his left arm, where this whole time the Dark Mark was out for all the world to see, she pressed her thumb into it, her eyes looking at Draco in confusion…and disbelief.

"Granger… Listen you c-can't tell anyone about this!" Hermione's eyes hadn't changed, though now they held a strange glint to them Draco didn't recognize.

"Mal-Draco…how-"

"I mean it Granger, if you tell a single soul, I'll curse you so bad-"

"How could you be so stupid!"

"I-What?"

Draco felt Hermione's hand grip his arm even harder, her whole hand now covering his mark, looking back at her face, he was shocked to see that the strange glint in her eye were tears, one of them had fallen out of the corner of her eye, making its way down her cheek. _She's…crying…for me?_

"How could you be so stupid! Do you know what you've done to yourself!"

"Done to myself?" Draco was confused…he didn't know where he was, how he'd gotten their. All he knew was that he had been found by Harry Potter's best friend, shouldn't he already have himself a one way ticket to Azkaban by now?

"How could you be stupid enough to join Voldemort!"

Draco almost laughed out loud but he ended up coughing instead, Hermione calmly waiting for him to finish before she continued. Draco found it eerily odd how she seemed to be treating him.

"What do you mean stupid? Granger, I didn't make a mistake, I meant to join the Dark Lord." Draco felt that it was useless to deny anything, if he was going to be sent to prison, he was going alone. He didn't want any sappy hearted mudblood's, with the delusion that he was forced into something against his will.

"I wanted to join him Granger, I'm happy about it!" Draco briefly thought to himself how much he sounded like Lucius, he dismissed the thought, not wanting to dwell on it.

"How could you like what happened to you! What impossible mission did your master have you do? Only to curse you half to death when you couldn't come up with his delusional results!" Draco was now glaring outright at the girl, just as she was glaring at him. Their faces were only inches apart, Hermione bending over him a bit to see him better.

"This wasn't a failed job Granger, this was my initiation! It was a test of strength and devotion!"

"Y-your initiation? You've only been a Death Eater for a day?"

Draco tried his best to smirk but the pain made it come out somewhat lopsided.

"Well I have my whole life to change that…"

"You won't last another meeting if that happens again!" Hermione was now outright yelling at the bedridden boy, who wasn't about to admit how much her shouting hurt his ears.

"Please Granger, I'm not some bland Hufflepuff. Don't go worrying your pretty little head over little ol' me. I can handle-

"You can't handle anything Malfoy! Last night was just a taste of what Voldemort is going to do to you in the years to come. If you couldn't walk after what happened last night, you'll never survive another day as one of his slaves!"

"Granger-"

"How could you be so stupid, and bull headed! Do you have a death wish? Do you honestly think Muggleborn's are so low that they warrant death on sight! Are you so evil?"

Draco actually looked away before meeting her eyes, his insides quaked at the words evil, said with such a strong sense of certainty. As if Hermione Granger truthfully did see Voldemort and his Death Eaters as the very paragon of evil, and not just another side of the war.

"Mudbloods aren't worry to study magic Granger, its only because of Dumbledore that you're-"

" If I'm not worry to study magic. Then how come I'm the smartest witch in the school! While your only second best! How come Neville, the son of two of the most famous auror's on history couldn't make a potion to save his life. While Harry a half blood, is more then a match for you at Quidditch, and the best defense against the dark arts student in the school!"

Draco couldn't form a sentence before she continued to scream at him more, her eyes never blinking, staring directly into his. Still gleaming with tears.

"How come your _Lord_ is so obsessed with pureblood superiority, when he himself is a halfblood! His own father was a muggle!"

"Granger-

" How come all you Slytherin's are so obsessed with being pureblood, when its obvious that more then half of you could only be half blood or less! Their aren't enough purebloods left in the world Malfoy for all the Death Eaters, and for sure all the Slytherin's in the world to be anywhere close to pureblood!"

"Stop shouting at me Granger! Shut up for just a damn-

"Why do you think your better then me on principal Malfoy! What makes you better then me, just because of who your parents are!"

"BECAUSE!"

Draco's eyes were glaring at her so intently that she actually stop for a second. He tried to sit up, he tried to lift his arms to hit her, to grab her and shake her, to do something. But his body couldn't move, his joints and muscles screamed at him in pain whenever he tried to move them.

"Because Granger, that's all there is to it. We are better then you, just because we are, we need no explanation." _ We don't have one…_

"We don't need one, because there is no need, we are just, and always will be better then you!"

Draco tried to put as much hate in the words as he could, but what Ganger had said had hit home too many times. The same thoughts he had been thinking the last few years, had apparently been going through Grangers head as well.

"That's bull shit Malfoy…"

_I know…_he thought, no longer able to look her in the eye.

_I know its bull shit…but what else do I have…its all I know. All I know is shit…_


	8. Decisions and Dreams now Told

Silence, that's all their was in the room of requirement for nearly half a minute before one of them dared speak.

"You never did tell me what it was, that your doing Granger…" His voice was quiet, barley half a whisper, as if he wasn't sure whether he wanted her to hear him or not.

"What?" Hermione for some reason, found herself mirroring his quiet whispers.

Draco's voice raised just the briefest, closer to a casual whisper. It sounded different then his usual drawl.

"That gel stuff your spreading on me, that spicy stuff…what is it?"

Hermione had completely forgotten that she was still spreading the gel into his chest, her hands must have had a mind of their own, because she didn't remember moving them herself. Looking down she realized with a small blush to her cheeks, that she had been rubbing it in quite liberally over Malfoy's tattoo, his shoulders and most of his arms were still completely bare.

"Its Oswood Jelly, helps to ease the pain and discomfort that the Cruciatus curse leaves you with, it's the best way to deal with it without using professional help, I'm supposed to rub it into your pained area's until you can feel them, and move them around without feeling pain."

"Oh…"

Hermione wasn't sure exactly what she should do at this point, things were much easier when he was unconscious. Now that he was awake, and still quite the Malfoy he always was, it was causing her to rethink all her actions. _Should I ask him before I continue? Should I see if he can, or wants to do it himself? Does he even want me to help him? Or would he rather suffer in pain, rather then let a mudblood even so much as touch him._

"Do-Do you…want me to continue rubbing it into your skin?"

Hermione noticed that Malfoy finally raised his eyes to meet her, and something about them were different, they were still the same gray boarder lining silver they had always been, but they seemed almost softer then usual.

"I can't do it myself Granger." he said, without the slightest hint of sarcasm, just a general straight forward comment.

"Oh…all right." Hermione continued to rub it into the rest of his chest, reaching down to his stomach, to his arms and hands.

Hermione tried not to think how nice it felt to be holding his hand, as she rubbed the ointment into his fingers, feeling them spasm and warm as the jelly entered the skin. When her hand finished with his right arm, she continued on to his left. Starting at the shoulder, moving down the upper arm. She rubbed it into his elbow, and slowly moved down his forearm. Hermione tried to make it quick, but she couldn't help passing her hand over the dark mark. Both looked away from each other when Hermione's fingers pressing against the mark caused Draco to hiss. Neither one of them wanting to bring up a conversation that would surely lead them somewhere they didn't want to go.

Finished with his torso, Hermione glanced over at Draco and noticed that he still refused to so much as acknowledge her presence, hesitating a bit, she quickly asked if she was allowed to do his legs as well. Malfoy nodded ever so slightly, looking for all the world as if he was just bored with the whole procedure.

Moving quickly Hermione was not surprised to find that this was much more embarrassing to do when her patient was awake. Moving both herself and her cauldron, Hermione sat her chair at the base of his bed, roughly in between Malfoy's feet. Starting with his right foot Hermione went about her task with as much lack of attachment as she could. Trying to force herself to see this as nothing more then just mechanical movement, something robotic and completely uninteresting.

_Just like brushing your teeth, doing the dishes at home…move one hand then the other, don't look at anything, don't think about anything, its just pointless movement…_

This tactic only worked for his feet and ankles, when Hermione's hand moved its way up higher and higher on his legs, up past his knee's and onto his thighs, her concentration was shot. She couldn't help but feel her cheeks burn, she knew her face must be as red as it felt. Her hand slowly moved its way up, just brushing the edge of his boxers, Hermione bit her lip, trying to keep her mind on the task at hand, and not on how nice his legs looked.

_Hermione this has gone from sick to just plain embarrassing…it was bad enough when he was asleep, but now he's awake!_

Hermione braved a glance up Draco's face, still looking anywhere but at her, she noticed that something was different about it though. He seemed more then just bored now, almost as if he was determined not to look over at her at all, his jaw was tightened and strained, his eyes almost glaring in the direction he was looking. Hermione noticed that the jelly must be worked, because she noticed that his hands were tightly clenching the bed sheets.

_I'm not hurting him am I?_ Hermione stopped moving her hands, leaving them just barley brushing his thighs. Looking once again at his face, she noticed that his face did seem to have a pained expression.

"Malfoy? Are you all right?"

"G-Granger…are you d-done yet?" His voice stuttered, sounding almost forced to her.

_What's going on?_

She looked over his body, wondering if she had perhaps missed something, or maybe she had rubbed a bruise too hard. Looking all around Hermione hadn't noticed that her hands were now pressing deeply into his legs.Malfoy though seemed to know, as he let out a small hiss, at the contact.

_What's wrong, is it something from the curse? Or is it something I did?_

Looking down at her hands, Hermione's eyes widened and a further blush accented her cheeks. _Oh…um_

"Malfoy I-"

"Are you done y-yet?"

"Um…yes I'm d-done"

"Then take your hands off me!"

Quicker then she thought possible, Hermione did so, her hands leaving Malfoy's legs, as he turned to glare at her. Moving one of his hands, Malfoy was able to cover himself with the bed's comforter. His face still glaring at her, Hermione noticed that she wasn't the only one who had a slight blush to their cheeks. Hermione thought it best to try and relieve some of the situations embarrassment.

"Malfoy its alright, I mean-"

"Granger…shut up, and leave me alone. You've done enough, I can move now, your jobs finished."

"Well that's good-"

"Then leave me alone." His voice was back to his usual coldness, but Hermione knew that he was directing it more at her then he usually did, Malfoy was embarrassed and Hermione felt the hint of a smile coming to her face, to know that the Slytherin prince wasn't as invulnerable as he wanted to seem.

"Wipe that fucking grin off your face mudblood!"

Hermione though just turned around, trying to hide her smile, as she tried not to laugh. _Imagine what the world would say if they knew that Draco Malfoy, Death Eater was-_

"If you ever breath a word about this Granger…"

Hermione could hear the threat in that, and even with knowing now for sure that Draco was a Death Eater, something about the fact that he was half naked, and all but bed ridden cause her not to worry too much.

"Who would ever believe me Malfoy? About any of this truthfully. No one would believe that I would ever help you more then drag your ass down to the Hospital wing, no one would ever dare to believe that I would ever help a Death Eater, except to give them a quick death, and not a single person would ever dream that you-

"You've said enough Granger, now shut up and leave me alone…I'm more then capable of taking care of myself now."

Hermione couldn't help but enjoy the situation. After hours of worrying, and taking care of the blonde ferret, she wanted to get herself some well deserved enjoyment. Walking back up to him, Hermione had nothing less then the biggest shit eating grin in the world on her face as she bent down to whisper in his ear, a glint of amusement in her eyes.

"Well lets hope you can _take care of yourself _Malfoy, because I'm done playing nurse with you."

Hermione moved to walk away but not without bursting out laughing at the look on Malfoy's face.

"You-you-you-"

"Me-Me-Me what Malfoy! Dirty mudblood? Stupid Gryffindor? Beaver face? You've exhausted all those insults Malfoy, time to come up with some more…if you can."

Hermione delighted in the way Malfoy's face turned red again, but this time in anger, his eyes were now back to being as cold and hard as they had always been. But they no longer fazed Hermione, she now knew his biggest secret and wasn't about to be afraid of him any longer, she was starting to think she might even understand him just a little. _Little being microscopic in its measurement…_

"Let me know when you can move Malfoy, the sooner I can leave you and never see you again the better." Hermione gave the boy no time to respond as she turned and walked away. Heading towards the small table, she took a seat and proceeded to read once more from the large tomes.

The hours passed slowly for Hermione, she had started on filling her head with all the knowledge she could find in the room, fascinated (and scared) by the power behind some of the more deadly curses. She discovered that medi-wizardry was much more mind intensive and detail oriented then she originally thought. It was much more different then normal magic, you didn't just wave your wand and say a few incantations, and everything was fine. Potions, charms, counter curses, Arithmancy, body formulas, blood analysis, vitality glyphs, the knowledge required to become fluent in the field more then peaked her interest. Hermione found herself thinking about what it would be like to be a fully trained medi-witch, the past days ordeals had certainly given her a taste of what it was like, and it was challenging; Hermione always had liked a challenge. _Maybe I should think of taking some lessons with Madam Pomfrey? Or sending an owl to Saint Mungo's…Surely they have apprenticeship programs after or possible during Hogwarts, it must take years to learn all of this…_

Hermione was finding herself quite enthralled in the processes, that she soon found herself looking more into the actual subject of medi-magic itself, more so then just actual counter curses, and treatment. Hermione was so enthralled in fact, that had it not been for the surprising and abrupt knock at the Room of Requirements door, she probably would of kept reading for the next few hours.

The knock seemed to have startled Draco as well, as he seemed confused whether he wanted to move to his feet or hid under his blanket. Hermione watched him, slightly open mouthed as he seemed to make up his mind, as he settled back into the bed, a look of pain on his face.

The knock sounded again persistent but patient. Hermione slowly made her way over to the door, curious as to who it could be.

_Should I even open it? It could be any random student wanting to use the room…should I even try and hide Malfoy from everyone? I…don't know_. Hermione wasn't entirely surprised that she couldn't decide what she wanted to do with the boy, she had only spend some twelve hours with the boy, and already he seemed to be messing with her head.

Deciding that standing in the middle of the room, while the person knocked a third round against the door. Reaching out with her wand, Hermione undid her locking charm, and slowly opened the door, to show to her surprise a very calm, smiling Dumbledore, and Snape looking, well like he usually did.

"Well good afternoon Miss Granger, I thought that the four of us could have a bit of a discussion about the events that have taken place recently, I thought it best to knock, because as I stated in my letter, it is quite rude to opens one door without being inviting in wouldn't you agree?" Hermione laughed at the older man, his calm wizened voice and humor had always put Hermione at peace, bringing a smile to her face.

"But of course Headmaster, the two of you may of course come in and make yourself at home. Because, well truthfully, I guess this is your home as much as it is mine." Hermione quickly envisioned a few more chairs in the small room, and the magic within the Room of Requirement made her thoughts physical, as two more comfy padded chairs like the first two appeared with a small pop around the table.

Hermione stepped aside and allowed the two older wizards to enter the room. Dumbledore's eyes glanced around the room, before a smile came to his face, bowing his head in the direction of the large beds across the room, he addressed Draco next.

"Ah Mr. Malfoy, how are you feeling my boy?"

Malfoy gave a quick half nod to the headmaster, his eyes guarded.

Chuckling Dumbledore quickly turned around and beckoned Hermione and Snape to come sit at the table. Hermione glanced at the two adults and at Draco before sitting down, looking confused.

"What exactly is the point of this visit Professors?"

Hermione looked over at Snape who hid a quick sneer as he sat down in the chair.

"We are of course here to check on the health of Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger…you see he's been absent from our eyes for far too long. We were wondering if you were taking proper care of him."

Hermione couldn't think of a way to respond to the question. Though she knew that Malfoy was alive, and in relatively fine health, she wasn't actually sure if what she was doing could be described as taking proper care of him.

"Well professor, I just finished administering Oswood jelly, and he's gained most of his mobility back, it seems there is only some lingering pain."

Snape leveled his gaze at her, the same one he used in his classes, when he wanted a complete answer from his students.

"And…I presume that Malfoy should be back to normal sometime in the morning, once this dosage of jelly has finally moved through his system, he should be up and returning to classes by breakfast tomorrow I'm sure…"

Hermione continued to look Snape in the eye, he as always gave her the impression that she had left something out. With Snape Hermione always felt that her answers were never detailed enough, and yet he had always belittled her know it all tendencies.

"Well miss Granger, it seems-

"That you are doing an excellent job as nurse to Mr. Malfoy" Dumbledore quickly interrupted the Potions Master.

"See Severus, I told you miss Granger would do a fine job, and she has. Mr. Malfoy is awake and well, and shall be back in under your care in no less then twenty four hours!" Hermione had to smile at how Dumbledore could turn such a grim situation, and make it sound awfully like Christmas had come a month early.

"I- suppose that you were correct Albus…Mr. Malfoy is this true? Has Granger been taking the proper care of you?" Hermione glanced over just in time to see Draco give another half nod to the professor, seemingly unable to think of anything to say. Snape only made a hmm noise in response. Hermione looked back at Draco to notice that he was once again looking off in some random direction, ignoring everyone in the room.

"Well! Now that, all that is settled…we must unfortunately move on to the more serious, and grave matters…" Dumbledore's recent cheerful attitude changed to a much more serious one, one Hermione had rarely seen on the man. Except when he was talking about Voldemort, or discussing plans with the Order.

"Mr. Malfoy if you would be so kind as to pay your utmost attention to the three of us, it seems the question of what to do with you needs to be resolved now."

Both Hermione and Draco were taken back by the headmasters choice of words, Draco more so as he actually let out a small gasp of what seemed to be fear, though he would never admit it later.

"What do you mean Headmaster?"

"You are a Death Eater Mr. Malfoy, do you not see a problem with that, being a student under Dumbledore's care? The Ministry would not consider you safe to be around other children, even though you are still a student, you are of age. The punishment for known affiliation with the Dark Lord is a sentence to Azkaban prison…didn't this ever cross your mind?"

Hermione felt like a spectator in a verbal battle, she looked over at Snape a man that though she disliked immensely, she had respect for. Here was a former Death Eater, turned spy to Albus Dumbledore, and he was now required to play an unique game of deception. He had to appear loyal to the Dark Lord in front of Draco, so as to not give away his delicate position, but also in quite support of Dumbledore. Lest Draco realize that Dumbledore might know of his professor's allegiance.

Draco on the other hand, only had one card to play, and that was to be complete in his own self preservation. Hermione knew, as the all four of them did. That Draco couldn't deny his affiliation with Lord Voldemort. Whether he admitted it or not, his dark mark was visible in the room for all to see if they so wanted, Hermione actually felt a bit afraid for the blonde. To have come so far to live, only to be caught red handed. Hermione knew he deserved whatever he got, but she still felt sorry for him.

_He doesn't deserve this…even if he did choose it. It wasn't truly his decision to make, or even his own. His whole life he's been molded by his parents…does that count for anything?_

"Yes, you Draco have been discovered as red handed as you could be, you have the Dark Mark branded on your arm, and you were found on the steps of this school in full Death Eater attire. What do you think of these things?"

They all knew the boy was already on the losing side of a battle, that he only had to wait for the coup de grace to take place, but he still fought on. Determination, pride, and more then a small amount of fear drove him on to protect himself. Everyone could see it in his eyes, the gray almost silver as it burned over the three of them. The effect was only ruined by the fact, that he wasn't standing upright fully clothed, with a wand in his hand. But propped up against three pillows, his chest bare to all, and his body visibly tired.

"I don't have anything to say to your claims headmaster." Dumbledore nodded, his eyes no longer twinkling, but seeming to pierce the very air, like nothing Snape could ever have accomplished.

"And if I were to tell you, that I have sent an owl to the Ministry of Magic, telling them I have a known Death Eater in my custody, that you are going to be sent off to Azkaban for at least one year…Do you have any protest to that?"

Draco's mouth tightened, his eyes lost of bit of their fire. Hermione saw that his hands were clenching the bed sheets very tightly.

"Headmaster…."

Dumbledore's gaze never wavered as he looked at Draco, his stance, and the tone almost made Hermione herself afraid. Snape then continued the attack, for once his sarcasm and stark attitude were directed at the blond Slytherin.

"And if we told you, that until you are under the Ministry's custody, we are going to administer you Veritiserum, and subservient spells in an effort to claim any and all information that you have, that we may have to resort to…less then admirable tactics in these days of war….Do any of these things bother you Mister Malfoy?"

Draco's looked startled with his usually friendly head of house talking to him like that. Hermione could almost hear the thoughts that must be running through his head, the doubts, the confusion. And though Malfoy would never admit it, Hermione felt that he was deeply afraid.

"Headmaster? Professor Snape?…You-couldn't. You wouldn't!"

Hermione's head moved back and forth as she glanced back and forth between the two professors, and Malfoy. Dumbledore's twinkling eyes were hard, and seemed uncaring as he looked at Malfoy. Hermione was startled to see what almost looked like hatred coming from the headmasters eyes, Snape on the other hand, was as calm and collected as always, though he never once tried to protect the blonde like he usually would of. He was completely without sympathy it seemed.

"Mr. Malfoy you are a Death Eater, and I as Headmaster will do whatever it takes to assure myself that my students are safe…even from other students." Both Hermione and Draco were taken aback at the headmaster. Hermione especially was shocked, she had always seen Dumbledore as the benevolent father figure of Hogwarts, but to see him in such a hostile manner irked her. She almost felt herself fearing for the blondes safety, as if Dumbledore would suddenly jump and attack him any moment.

_What am I going to do? Why is Dumbledore so angry…Is this how he treats all Death Eaters?_

Hermione tried to speak up, but her words were lost before then even left her mouth, she could feel her stomach clenching in nervousness. She knew that this was wrong, that even guilty Draco Malfoy didn't deserve this. _Complete abandonment from those who would be most likely to show sympathy, to just throw him away like that…He just made a mistake! Why can't you see that?_

"Headmaster, Draco's still young, he's still a student! Could, couldn't he of just made a mistake in joining Vol-Voldemort?" Hermione felt a small blush come to her face for some unknown reason. She wasn't sure if it was because she was now defending the guilty blond, or because of the look of complete and utter shock both Snape and Malfoy were sending at her, Dumbledore just raised a bushy eyebrow as he glanced at her, his eyes losing their hard edge.

"Miss Granger, though I do believe your heart is in the right place, Mr. Malfoy here has broken the law, and has put the students in grave danger. Though I hate to do this as much as anyone, I must think in the collective interests of Hogwarts, and it's students."

"But, Headmaster. How has Draco truthfully broken any laws? Yes he did take the dark mark, but he hasn't done anything yet, he barly even survived the initiation! He needs help, more then he needs punishment."

If anything Hermione felt more embarrassed as the three men continued to look at her. Dumbledore's look turned to from curiosity to a thoughtful one. Snape looked just as surprised as ever, while Malfoy was slowly starting to glare at her.

Hermione fidgeted under the looks of the three wizards for only a moment longer, before Dumbledore removed his gaze to stare back at Draco. Malfoy, Hermione noticed. Was still glaring at her out of the corner of his eye, but he slowly returned his gaze to first his head of house, and then the headmaster. Though he tried his best to keep his mask on, his emotions under control. It was clear to everyone in the room, just how nervous and scared the injured Slytherin was.

Everyone it seemed was waiting to hear what the Headmaster was going to say in regards to Hermione's question. Hermione herself didn't know what to do, truthfully she wasn't sure exactly what she wanted to come of this, Malfoy was a Death Eater, but prison at such a young age seemed too harsh to Hermione. At last, after what seemed like close to half a hour to the three of them, Dumbledore cleared his throat and finally fixed his gaze once more on the bedridden blonde.

"Mr. Malfoy, I must implore you to understand the graveness of this situation. You are with no doubt a Death Eater, and servant of Lord Voldemort. This is something I would never allow in this school, if I could help it…." Malfoy seemed to have swallowed his tongue, his face taunt, and eyes wide. Hermione wasn't sure if he was more likely to burst out in anger, or tears.

"Though I shall not take Miss Grangers words out of the account. It is true that you are still a student, and though an adult in the eyes of the Wizarding world, you are still young, and liable to make mistakes, however grave they are. Therefore, I will be giving you a choice, and some time to think upon it."

Hermione knew her neck was going to be sore as she kept moving back and forth between Malfoy to catch his reactions, and Dumbledore to pay closer attention.

"Tonight I am going to leave Miss Granger here to look after you, you are well, and will be up and about tomorrow morning. At which case when you awake you are to report directly to my office, so you can give me your answer. Draco, I will only ask tell you this once." Pausing Albus Dumbledore leveled his gaze with Draco's. Blue eyes behind half moon spectacles, met guarded gray ones, showing the smallest amount of fear.

" To join the side of Lord Voldemort, Draco, shows that you are either a being of such an enormous amount of hate that the rest of us cannot even begin to comprehend how it's possible. Or that you are letting your parents, and their wants and desires above your own. Voldemort is not a benevolent man, he does not reward his followers, he does not take care of them, and cares little more for them, as he does his victims. It is not a choice full of honor, or pride, it is not a path to power, or riches, it is merely servitude, to a Master that is less human every single day."

If Dumbledore's words had any affect on Draco, he was hiding it well, though Hermione could feel the tension in the room, it was thick, and it seemed to reside in just the two wizards who stood face to face right now. A wizard Merlin of his age, and the perpetual child at the cross roads of their lives, follow what you've been told all your life, or the other path?

" You shall not find whatever it is that you are looking for with Voldemort Draco…If he succeeds and immortality is his, he will take dominion of this world, and most likely destroy over half of it. Most of the worlds populations being muggle, would be entirely wiped out or enslaved, the beautiful places of this world would be blackened by war, as Voldemort kills anyone who could ever become a threat to him. Truly he would destroy the very world itself if it meant an end to his enemies."

"So I ask you Mr. Malfoy, if you choose to fully follow Lord Voldemort, your Master. Down whatever path he tells you to, even unto your death, as you have sworn. Then you are committed to such a path, and its consequences, including those of being caught by the Ministry and myself. Though, if you choose to take another road, one where you can become your own master….Renounce him, tell us all you know, every last bit. Find solace in us, whether you are hiding from him in a location that only you and one other shall ever know, or acting as our spy, risking your life to help bring us closer to a peaceful world. We will shelter you, and protect you; and when the war is over, you would be fully pardoned, and free to do as you please, with no hindrance, plans, or requests from us."

The room seemed to echo Dumbledore's speech back around, as no one spoke for several seconds.

"I shall return now to my chambers, Miss Granger, you have the day off from classes, today only. Watch Mr. Malfoy, he is not to leave this room, or have any contact with anyone, until which time that he makes his decision. Do not answer the door should anyone come knocking, as none of us shall come here, except at noon tomorrow at which time Severus shall come to collect you Draco, and bring you to my office, with your answer."

Standing up, Dumbledore beckoned Snape to follow him out. Before exiting the room Dumbledore turn around and spoke once more to the two students, his face was grave, but some light had returned to his pupils, his eyes twinkling once more. Neither Hermione nor Draco noticed this, they were at this time both stunned into silence.

" May the two of you have an enjoyable evening. Miss Granger, I apologize for the inconvenience of this, and for the implications it is putting on your future, but I wish for this incident to be cleared up with as little traceable evidence as possible. Mr. Malfoy, think carefully, no decision like this has ever been put forth to you in your life. Your future is at risk, your very life hangs in the balance as you answer. Choose wisely, you shall not be given another chance. But know that this is your decision to make, not mine, not Miss Granger's, not your father's, or Voldemort's, yours alone."

Dumbledore then turned and quietly shut the door, Hermione could just barly make out him replacing all of her locking charms on the door, for added measure he must of added one or two more charms to the door.

The room was silent once more, but for once this was not an awkward silence, more of a understood one. _Draco has a lot to think about…I guess, I'll just go read to pass the time._

"Malfoy-  
"Granger?"

They both talked at the same time, their voices mixing, causing a slight echo. Hermione nodded at him, knowing that even if he was staring down so stubbornly at his sheets, that he was still a Slytherin. And no Slytherin would ever forsake what's going on around him.

Malfoy took in a deep breath, his eyes flickered to the door, and then finally to Hermione herself. She almost gasped out loud at the look on his face, they were completely full of fear, and what she thought must be shot nerves. _Draco doesn't know what he's going to do at all!_

"Just leave me alone for the night Granger…I-I need to be alone as much as possible."

Hermione just nodded her consent, before moving over to her bed, to read the rest of the night away.

Outside the room of Requirement, down a few floors, on their way to the headmaster's office, Snape and Dumbledore were conversing privately, in hushed tones. Snape himself was frequently looking around for any stray ease dropping students, while Dumbledore himself was looking as cheerful as ever.

"Well Severus I think you are wrong, I believe my plan shall work perfectly, though I have to admit I had trouble pulling it off. I had been trying to find a way to get those two alone together, when it all happened on its own, I was hard pressed not to chuckle at fates own design."

"Headmaster-"

"I almost wasn't able to force up enough anger to actually scare Mister Malfoy, I hope the boy makes the right decision."

"Albus…you do know that Draco still thinks I am a loyal Death Eater? And that even if he does decide to change sides, he will still not be completely trustworthy with my secrets for quite some time?"

"Yes…you will have to appear to be the loyal subject of Voldemort…are you willing to play your part again tomorrow?"

Dumbledore in his cheerful mood, his thoughts on chamber music, and lemon drops, missed the glint in Snape's eyes, and the momentary shine to them, as his hands clutched something inside his robes.

"Yes, headmaster, I am prepared."

_Her breathing was coming in labored breaths, her body was undeniably hot, as his hands moved up and down her body. Every so often they would stop, and caress her flesh, living a delightful shiver in their wake._

_"Hermione…"_

_Moving down, his lips began to kiss her neck, her collar bone, further down. _

_They came back to her lips once._

_Twice_

_And then returned to their past location. Hermione felt her body jerking, her senses on overload. Her vision was blurring, all she saw were a few shapes here and there. But she could feel…oh could she feel. She felt his hands all over her body, doing the most wonderful things. She felt his lips, his hot, soft mouth on her stomach, her neck, seemingly everywhere and anywhere at the same time._

_Seconds past, or were they hours? All Hermione knew was that they had finally started to make love in earnest, fast and needy, her mysterious lover, treated her like a Goddess, as if his very life meant her pleasure. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, and tried to bring his lips down for another kiss, but her own moan stopped her. Before she could think, she suddenly had her hands held abover her head._

_"Not now love, later…." His voice sent waves of desire through her, and a thrill Hermione had never experienced._

_"Do you love me Hermione?"_

_Yes_

_"Do you know that I love you…"  
yes, oh yes…_

_" Don't think….just tell me…"_

_Hermione for all her worth had trouble getting her mind to think past the wonderful things her body was experiencing, all she knew was that as much as he wanted to talk, she wanted him to stop interrupting this with talking…even if they were words of love._

_Yes, I know, just please…_

"_Please what Hermione?"_

_Please…I love…oh…_

"_Hermione?"_

_Dr-_

_"Hermione, tell me you love me…I want us to say it together…"_

_I-I-I- love you…_

"Hermione!"

"Draco!"

The vision ended before Hermione's eyes, the heat, and intense feeling disappeared like a mist. Before her stood the darkened room of requirement, the torches had long since burned themselves out over the night. Breathing deeply, Hermione grabbed her wand, and uttered a quick 'lumos' to light the room. Looking around the first thing Hermione noticed was Draco Malfoy, sitting up in bed, a flushed look to his face, eyes wide.

It was then that Hermione remember what woke her. _Another one of those god damn dreams…and worse yet, my 'dream lover' is here in the next room, hell he probably… heard me….._

Hermione's eyes narrowed, something didn't add up.

"Malfoy why are you awake?"

"Wh-what do you, I mean what, what are you talking about, Herm-Granger?"

Hermione's eyes opened fully, she gasped as she lifted a hand to her mouth.

"That was you, yelling my name wasn't it?…You had the same dream as I did!"

"Granger, I-I don't know what your talking about, I've been awake for some time, what could you- leave me alone Granger…" Malfoy then tried to roll over to go back to sleep but was interrupted when he felt something poking him in the side. Turning over he noticed that Hermione had quickly moved over to his bed, and was now leaning on it, her hand on his side.

"Mal-Draco…Were you just dreaming about me? About _us?_ Together…in certain ways?"

"Granger…I don't know what you're talking about I-"

"You were weren't you!"

"I-I…" Draco's eyes glanced quickly around the room, trying to find something to save himself with. Before he could even think up an excuse, he felt Hermione's hands on his chin, moving his face up to meet hers, nose to nose, mouth to mouth, silver gray, to amber brown eyes. Draco couldn't lie to those eyes…not when they've been haunting him every night.

_Shit…she knows now…_

_A/N: Ok everyone I'm updating this before I head off to school, so I hope you all enjoy it. I wasn't originally going to have so much in this chapter, the last part was going to be in the next one, but this turned out to be too short for my liking...so I'll just have to put more in the next one. I hope everyone and I mean EVERYONE reviews...I know I have like 40 plus people who get nice little emails about this update...well if you like it, fucking tell me! aight? alright..._

_anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and believe me. Things just get more interesting as the story goes...its going to be good. I hope you like._

_ -Sises  
_


	9. Plans within Plans

Well maybe he couldn't lie well, but he could damn sure try.

"Draco…" Hermione had to admit the name felt strange on her lips, not bad just strange.

" You've been dreaming about me haven't you…dreaming about us, being…Together." Hermione held her hands on his cheeks, held his gaze to hers. She tried not to notice how good he looked so close up, how deep his eyes looked, as if she was able to see past his shields, to see what was truly beyond them.

"Granger…I-I think your imagining things. Now, get off my bed." Draco's voice was filled with a touch of anger, but his eyes were too guarded to show anything. _If he was mad, he would look mad, not like he is now…not like he's hiding something…_

_Since when could I read him so well?_

"You're lying Malfoy."

"Am I Granger? Then tell me, what's really going on, but first. Get off my bed!" Hermione ignored his comment as she continued.

"I think that you just woke up, because of a frighteningly realistic dream you were just having, one where you and I were doing unmentionable things to each other." Draco actually started laughing at this, he tore his head out of her grip, as he continued to chuckle, his eyes darting around the room.

"Unmentionable things Granger? And pray tell me what exactly do you mean by that?" Draco's raised a smirk at her, but wasn't prepared for what she did next.

Raising her hands once more Hermione barly blinked as she roughly grabbed his chin in one hand, and his shoulder in another. Moving forward Hermione used Draco as leverage, and ended up pulling herself and him closer together, before either of them could think about what Hermione was doing, she quickly closed her eyes, and pressed her lips against Draco's.

To say Draco was shocked was an understatement, his eyes mirrored Hermione's in a way, that while hers were closed, his were wide open in surprise. It took him a moment to fully register what was going on, before he slowly closed his eyes and kissed her back.

And as if nothing had happened, Hermione suddenly broke the kiss, and went back to staring at him, though now with a look of amusement on her face, with something else Draco couldn't place, some type of almost predatory glint.

"So have you always had something for me Malfoy, or is this just recent?" Still recovering from the unexpected kiss, Draco was more then a little disoriented by the events going on around him.

"Granger what the hell!? Are you absolutely Mad?! What do you mean, have something for you…I detest you Granger, I hate you!?" Hermione only smiled at him, her eyes still having a strange glint to them, she took on a more bossy know it all tone that everyone was familiar with while she replied.

"Because people who hate you, frequently enjoy kissing them? And have erotic dreams about them every night."

"I-I-I…Explain yourself Granger, what the hell has gotten into you!?" Hermione signed, her eyes rolling as she took a step back from him, and released her hands from his face, now just leaning against the bed. _Boys, can't even follow a simple conversation._

"Alright Malfoy, lets dumb it down a shade for you. You and me just woke up very suddenly, both of us had all but shouted out one another's name, and definitely not in a hateful fashion." Hermione took a breath, and continued to talk slowly, as if it were a five year old in front of her, and not a seventeen year old wizard.

"This isn't the first this has happened to me, and if I am correct, you've also been suffering from late night dreams, if the bags under your eyes you've had this last week is anything to go by. And now as you proclaim your hate for me, you had absolutely no problem kissing me." Hermione level his gaze one more with her eyes, feeling that though as insane as this sounded…it just made too much sense to be wrong. Even for someone like Hermione Granger.

"So Malfoy…. Draco, my question is, how long have you had feelings for me? How long have you been dreaming about me? Has it been awhile, or just since our night in the forest?"

It took a second for the whole situation to work through Draco's sleep addled mind, but once he got it all, he started to laugh once more.

"You…you…you-you. Are you telling me…Are you Honestly telling me that your starting to believe what that crack pot of an senile headmaster was telling us?" Draco's laughed turned from a loud chuckle, to absolutely tittering, his breathing coming in sharp gasps, as he tried to talk and laugh at the same time.

"Do-Do….Do you honestly think that you and I are meant to be together Granger? Please." Taking a few breaths, Draco managed to get his laughing back under control.

" I don't know what you're talking about. But I certainly did not, nor have I ever had a dream about you, and me. Unless those unmentionable, unspeakable things involved a wand and the Cruciatus curse." Moving a hand out Draco rudely shoved Hermione in the chest, causing her to fall to the floor.

"And I certainly don't have any feelings for you Granger, I despise you, I hate you. I'm a fucking Death Eater for Merlin's sake. Now I don't know what got it into your empty head, but there is no proof, of any kind that might lead anyone to believe that the two of you are 'meant to be together' the entire idea is laughable." Sneer back in place, eyes as guarded as always, Hermione found herself facing down the same Draco Malfoy of her last five school years. The bully, the rich, spoiled, blond aristocratic fanatic, that cried to his daddy when a large horsy-bird attacked him.

"And its even more pathetic that you believe it Granger…because I would never, and will never feel anything towards you but disgust." Looking down on her, Hermione could see his eyes, and she saw the disgust in them. For a second she thought about calling the whole thing of, blaming her being half awake for the whole crazy thing, or some spell of some sort. She was just about to admit defeat, and walk back to her own bed, face full of shame and utter embarrassment, when something caught her eye. And with a look of glee, Hermione saw her victory splattered all over Draco Malfoy's chest.

It was the glint that came to Hermione's eyes, that almost made Draco feel afraid, but when she directed his own Malfoy smirk back at her, he knew that whatever happened next would not be good at all.

"Then why don't you tell me something Malfoy, Why is your tattoo glowing?" Looking down, Draco noticed that indeed it was glowing, an angry fire red, it all but shined light on his chest it was so bright.

"What the bloody hell?!" Draco wasn't given much of a chance to complete his thought, before he felt his face pulled up once more, and Hermione's small, but sneering face became the only thing he could see.

"Why don't you tell me why that's happening, and why you've been dreaming about me every night since those tattoo's appeared, and why you didn't push me away the second I kissed you. Tell me that Malfoy, give me a reasonable explanation why all of this is happened, if not for some actual reason?"

"Granger-

"Shut up Malfoy, answer my questions…but after this."

And for the second time that night, Hermione Granger initiated a kiss with Draco Malfoy. Shocked at her own behavior, Hermione took solace only in the fact, that though she didn't understand it, it just felt too right for her to stop. And Draco, too concerned with the things Hermione was doing with her lips, didn't stop to think about how much he hated the girl in front of him, he didn't stop to think about how as a Malfoy, he was supposed to shun, and repress her. Or that as a Death Eater, he was supposed to torture and kill her.

Draco Malfoy didn't even stop to think, and remember that this girl actually was Hermione Granger at all, he didn't think. He just felt.

88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

The morning eventually came, and for once Draco actually felt at peace. His body no longer ached with the left over pain of the Cruciatus, nor was his mind filled with thoughts of Death Eater plans, Lord Voldemort's wishes, and his father's expectations. Draco for once actually dare he say it, felt happy waking up. He just couldn't understand why.

Slowly opening his eyes, Draco was once again filled with the warm, but slightly dull looking room of requirement, that had been his dorm room for what seemed like the last week. Glancing around him, Draco tried to see where his 'doting nurse' had gotten to, the mudblood Granger.

_That's strange, shouldn't she be on me in a instant, either trying to help me, or trying to kick me out now that my times up?_

Thinking back on the last few days events, Draco felt his stomach drop.

_Oh God, I was discovered, and that old crackpot expects me to turn spy to save my own skin…_

Though the whole idea sickens Draco, he truly couldn't decide what he was going to do, betray his Master? Or face certain imprisonment? Neither of them would be beneficial to his health.

_Could I possibly convince Dumbledore that I was going to spy for him, but instead spy for the Dark Lord? Would he believe me?_

Lost in his thoughts, Draco didn't notice when a hand came out of nowhere, and wrapped itself around his chest. He did notice though when he felt another body cling to his, a warm, sleeping body.

Ripped from his thoughts, Draco looked down in surprise, to get what he felt was the shock of his life.

Cuddled up to him, fast asleep, and dare he say it? Snuggling with him right now, was Hermione Granger, thankfully still in her pajamas, but with an oddly content smile on her face.

_What_

_In_

_The_

_Bleeding_

_Hells…is going on?!_

_"Shut up Malfoy, answer my questions…but after this."_

"_So Draco, how long have you had feelings for me?"_

"Oh sweet Merlin…I snogged mudblood Granger…we freaking went at it, and fell asleep before we knew what was happening."

_Didn't know she was such a fine…_

_I am not going there…I'm a Malfoy, that should…no, that didn't happen. In fact, why the hell am I allowing her in my bed, she's ruining these sheets!_

Without thinking about his jumbled thoughts, Draco promptly pushed Hermione away from himself, first gently, as he didn't want to wake her. But then after remembering who he was, and who she was, he then shoved her roughly off the bed, and onto the floor.

"Get the hell off my bed Granger!"

To say that was a rude awakening would have been an understatement. Hermione who had been deeply asleep (not to mention comfortable) found herself suddenly awake, on the floor, and in pain.

"W-what…?" Still drowsy, Hermione shook her head a bit, and tried to stand up, but promptly fell back down on Draco's bed. Glaring down at the bumbling girl Draco reached out once more to shove her off his bed again.

Falling to the floor a second time seemed to wake her up a bit, jumping to her feet Draco found himself faced with a glare he's seen so many times he could almost describe it in its entirety.

"That glare's a bit weak when your half asleep, and your hair is all over the place Granger."

"You-you. What the hell? Why did you push me off the bed!?" Draco, much more awake and coherent gave her look as if he were speaking to a child.

"Because you were on _my_ bed, isn't it obvious?" He couldn't help but giver her a small smirk to go with his drawl.

Looking more annoyed then angry, Hermione took a second to rub at her eyes, run a finger through her hair. Draco was amused when she stretched a minute, and let out an almost cat like sound, when he shook himself a bit. _Why am I paying attention to her? She's not important._

"If me being on _your_ bed, was such a big deal, then why the hell did you let me sleep their last night?!"

"Sleep their? Granger not even in my most alcohol induced nightmares would I ever let you sleep with me."

Granger actually looked as if he had insulted her, her eyes had gone big, and her mouth was actually hanging open in disbelief. Draco rather liked that look on her, it made her look ridiculous.

"Malfoy are you just stupid, or completely brain dead?! Because that is exactly what got us here in the first place, because of our DREAMS!" The last word seemed to be nothing more that a shrill shriek to Draco's ears, but he was able to judge its meaning relatively clearly. If only his ears would stop throbbing now.

"Granger, I have no idea what the bloody hell your talking about."

"Bull shit you don't Malfoy!"

_Deny everything, Deny it to the grave._

"Nope, I have no idea what the hell your talking about mudblood, for all I know you must of snuck into my bed last night, for Merlin knows what reason and-"

"_Aguamenti" _

A jet of cold wander sudden shot out of Hermione's wand, when she had drawn it Draco had no idea, all he knew is that, the water was beyond freezing, and it was now covering most of his body, and his once comfortable sheets.

"What…What the Bloody, Fucking-

"Stop playing games Malfoy, stop pretending that last night didn't happen, cause I know you remember. Its probably why you pushed me off the bed in the first place. You remembered last night, and couldn't take it."

"Granger? Did you just, what made you think you had the right too? Granger…-

Draco wasn't able to entirely finish his question, as Granger burst into a tirade of giggling, Draco was thinking over a list of curses that would more or less stop the annoying noise (the fact that they might stop her overall breathing was just a plus) when she did it for him.

"Wow Malfoy, and here I thought water might wake you up, if anything its put you into more of a stupor. Here why don't you try off."

Hermione conjured a big fluffy towel to appear over Draco, covering him almost completely.

Draco didn't have much time to even react, as before he could even remove the towel from his face, he heard Granger walking away from him, presumably to her own bed. Taking the offending blanket sized towel off of him, Draco was repulsed to notice that not only was it oversized and fluffy, but it was a very bright pink as well. Clutching it tightly Draco proceeded to throw it away from him as hard as he could, when the towel only landed a foot or two from the bed, Draco took the time to actual glare at it. _Stupid ruddy towel…stupid ruddy Granger. She wouldn't be this cheeky if I could walk…_

Like a bolt of lightning striking his head, Draco literally jumped out of bed, his legs though slightly wobbly actually held his wait.

_I've recovered!_

Looking around the room, Draco could just make out the form of Hermione moving around from behind her bed, grinning a bit, Draco reached over to the night stand for his wand, but it wasn't their.

"What the?!" Draco looked again in a slight panic, all he found was a clock and a glass of water. No wand.

"Where the hell" he muttered under his breath.

"Granger! Where is my bloody wand!"

"Malfoy? Why are you yelling?"

Turning around Draco noticed that Granger was actually right behind him, looking at him with a bemused expression.

"Where is my wand?"

Draco felt strange without his wand, without knowing where it was. Almost naked, alone even. He felt what he thought all muggles and squibs must feel like everyday, completely and utterly useless.

"Your wand?"

Rolling his eyes, Draco crossed his arms a crossed his chest, which he just now remembered was bare, alone with his legs. _Except I can't accio my clothing, cause I don't have my bloody wand!_

"Yes Granger…I would like to know where my wand is, so I can cast some magic, so I can curse you, and then happily leave this Merlin forsaken room!"

Looking at him with the strangest expression, Draco almost thought she was trying to dissect him with her eyes. Like he was nothing more then an experiment, like a question that the Gryffindor Know it all wanted to solve.

"Where else would your wand be Malfoy? How about the same place it was, when I dragged your half dead arse up here." her sarcasm died and then she lifted one bushy eyebrow in his direction.

"Its over their, with the rest of your Death Eater attire."

Pointing a finger, Draco followed it to find a large mass of black set against the wall. He noted that no one had taken any care when they placed his garments their, just carelessly thrown them, like they were nothing. _She doesn't even know who she is, does she…stupid mudblood._

Walking over to the pile, Draco sorted through it. He located his hood and mask, and quickly pushed them aside, for some reason looking at them, remembering the entire night of his initiation made him feel slightly ill. The fact that he still hadn't come to a conclusion about what he was to do about Dumbledore and his ultimatum didn't make things any better for him.

Reaching down into the robes Draco pushed aside the black that was the Death Eaters garb, and revealed his now extremely wrinkled school uniform. Reaching into a pocket, he withdrew his wand.

"Thank Salazar."

Muttering a few small spells under his breath, Draco quickly dried the remnants of Granger's Aguamenti off of himself, and then smoothed the wrinkles from his uniform. (Slytherins are not as uncouth and uncivilized as Gryffindors, we have to look impeccable at all times.) Quickly donning the uniform, Draco found himself confused as to what he was supposed to do about his Death Eaters robes.

_Do I just fold them up, and keep them in my closet? But Father always had a way of conjuring them on himself, before heading off to the summons…now how did he do that?_

Shrugging a bit to himself, Draco assume that one of the senior members (perhaps Snape, or Father) would let him know about how he was supposed to go about things. _I mean it was my first night, surely there is a bit of understanding that this is all new to me._

Getting a few more things in order, Draco felt a very Slytherin thought coming to mind.

_I have my wand again…I could curse Granger within a inch of her life, until she begs for death…or at least until she swears on her life that she will never tell a soul my secret. _

While he was thinking up the appropriate spell, Draco slowly withdrew his wand, while he made it look like he was still looking through all his pockets and robes. With a smirk on his pale face, Draco spun around as he thrust his wand out, relishing the thought of catching Granger off guarded with a well aimed

"_Expelliarmus_!"

And just as planned the spell went off without a problem, striking the target completely surprised and unawake. It was with a well satisfied smirk that the caster watched the victims wand fly through the air, and land some feet away from either of them.

"Granger!"

"Malfoy! How dare you!"

Draco looked from her wand pointed towards him, and back to his own wand, that was now several feet away, closer to the door then to any of the two students.

"Trying to sneak up on me, and curse me when my back is turned were you?"

Draco only glared, his hands reaching out to either make a dive for his wand, or Granger's throat. Hermione apparently saw this small movement, as without a sound, a jet of red light shot out of her wand, and narrowly missed striking Draco's feet. Instead causing sparks and a small black burn on the floor.

"Granger what the hell was that?!"

"Stupify Malfoy, a non verbal form of it. Move and I will hex you, one tiny little movement and I will send you to Madam Pomfrey unconscious, with the dark mark for all to see."

Draco had little to say to this, and little he technically could. Though he hated to admit it, he was at the mercy of Granger, and her well stocked brain of spells. _Not something I ever wanted to be trapped by._

It was a few moments before anyone did anything, Granger eventually mover her wand ever so slightly, and Accio'ed Draco's wand to herself. Now with two wands, both her and his own. Draco was feeling like he had been caught in Death Eater attire all over again.

_Well shit…_

Thinking that very little else could go wrong, Draco was surprised when before either of them had made the next move, their was a knocking at the door. Standing still, Draco waiting a few moments for Granger to get it. When the third knock had happened, he actually motioned for her to get the door. She only shook her head, her eyes and wands both directed towards him. It seems she didn't trust him for a second. _And here I thought Granger was in love with me, the way she was snuggling up to me this morning…Damnit stop thinking about that, just forget it…_

When the fourth knock ended, the two students heard a few muttered curses, and soon the door blew open with enough force that it banged against the wall and back again, almost shutting itself if not for the strong hand that reached out to shove it open, as they walked in.

Taking one look at the situation, Professor Snape just snorted in disbelief.

"What are you two doing? This is a school, not a dueling ring!"

"But Professor-

"Silence girl, I do not care if Mr. Malfoy so much as looked at you strangely, give him back his wand, and then go meet with Dumbledore he has some things he wishes to discuss with you. Five points from Gryffindor."

If Granger was going to argue her case, she didn't know how, as she just nodded her head, threw Draco's wand within the general direction he was, and stocked out of the room. Face showing absolute confusion.

Walking over to pick up his wayward wand, Draco suddenly heard the door slam shut. Still a bit jumpy since Granger had almost stunned him, Draco turned around and pointed his wand at the first thing he saw, which happened to be Professor Snape with his hand on the now closed door, a look of annoyance on his face.

"Thank you Professor, I appreciate you coming to my aid-

"Quiet Malfoy, you are a disgrace to your kind, and aren't even worthy of speaking to me in private."

Shocked was not a big enough word to describe Draco's emotions.

"Professor, I-What are you talking about-"

"_Silencio_! Now Malfoy maybe you would be willing to listen to me now, and not shout off your rather large mouth as you usually do."

Professor or not, fellow Death Eater or nor, Draco was seriously contemplating using a few non verbal spells on the man. If only he had mastered them by now, but Draco knew deep down it was no use. Snape had bested him once, and he could surely do it again.

"I have just gotten back from that fool Dumbledore, I've been able to convince him that you would feel much better confessing to me, about your crimes. For all intensive purposes Dumbledore shall now consider you one of his spies."

_What? You did all that for me?_

If Snape knew what Draco was trying to mentally tell him, he didn't show it.

"For the rest of the term, and until we have won the war, you will tell me each and everything that happens at your summons, so I can therefore let Dumbledore in on what he deserves to know."

Draco glared at his potions professor, he even went so far as to aim his wand at the man, as much good as it would do.

Snape casually expelled it from his hands with a nonverbal Expelliarmus, he barly even had to wave his wand.

"Dare you curse me Malfoy! Use your brains boy! I am not going to actually tell him the plans, I am going to tell him parts of the truth, so if he were to use Legilimens, I would not have to lie to him. We are also worked it out to explain your absence. You and the mudblood were at Saint Mungo's looking into the reason the Metoninosus potion did not work."

Draco only continued to glare, though now more at the boy comment then anything else, though he hated to admit it, Snape's plan was genius, he didn't have to betray the Dark Lord, and now he had gotten something of a trusted position within Dumbledore's circle. _Surely the Dark Lord will find this useful!_

Motioning to his mouth, Draco tried to get Snape to remove the spell, but the older wizard only shook his head.

"No Malfoy, I am going to leave you silent for this. I don't want to have to listen to your annoying drawl. Now that you understand your position with Dumbledore, do not get cocky about it. He still does not trust you, and for good reason. But the muggle loving fool, does have one weakness, and that is his acceptance of love." Snape spit the word like it was poison.

"He still believes very much in the supposed relationship between you and the mudblood. Because of this, she is going to be your shadow for the next few weeks, until school is over. Don't try to loose her when she follows you, do not try to lye to her about your summons, and what ever you do, do not attack her. Though you were under duress, you are supposed to have willingly renounced your ways, and are now an non official member of Dumbledore's order."

Breathing a sigh of relief Draco felt the weight of his failure leave his shoulders. _Damn Snape and his sneaky ways, and here I was thinking he had actually betrayed the Dark Lord, or that I was going to be left here to die…apparently the name Malfoy still means something to someone._

Snape caught the small smile that came to Draco's mouth, and quickly seized upon it. Draco barly had enough time to move as he saw a purple light smash into his side.

Silently screaming Draco, fell to his knee's. The spell had felt like a bludger to the ribs. Coughing somewhat Draco fought to get his breathing back under control.

With his arms wrapped around his side, and him down on his knee's, all Draco was able to see was the floor, and Snape's black boots, when he felt himself being pushed over on his back.

Looking up at his professor, Draco was confused about his actions. Though he played the part of a loyal Death Eater to a tee, he was uncharacteristically violent towards his fellow Death Eater, and pupil.

Draco's vision was filled with little else other then Snape, as the man leaned down upon him.

"Malfoy I told you not to get cocky, you are far from out of the fire. Though your problem with Dumbledore is now momentarily solved, the Dark Lord is not pleased. I of course was told to inform him of the repercussions your initiation had on you. Many poor witches and wizards have extreme difficulty making it through the initiation, the Dark Lord was hoping you were not going to be one of them."

Draco suddenly felt the air leave his lungs much faster then the spell made him, his stomach was turning, and he felt somewhat sick. _Oh shit…_

"The Dark Lord was most displeased at what I told him, about how you barly made it out alive, how the mudblood Granger found you, of all the people who could of. On how she actually nursed you back to health, and how Dumbledore now knows…For a moment you had become more of a liability then an asset. I suggest you feel lucky that I wasn't sent here to tie up all the loose end you created Malfoy."

Draco now felt positively sick, he was not liking this one bit.

"The Dark Lord is giving you one last chance to prove yourself able to serve him…no one has ever failed the initiation as bad as you have Malfoy, and been allowed to live to tell the tale. And no one has _ever_ been allowed to try again…you should be very thankful of my advice to the Dark Lord, and your fathers limited usefulness…it was all that kept you alive these past two days…"

Draco felt himself actually intimidated, and sacred to continue looking Snape in the eye, his dark black eyes. He didn't seen an ounce of pity in their, he didn't see a single emotion at all, it was like staring at a wall. _Completely emotionless._

"So tomorrow evening you shall be summoned once more. This time it shall be just you and the Dark Lord, no one else. This time you shall follow his words as if your very soul depends on it, because truthfully Malfoy it does. Tomorrow night, is your last chance, fail that, and I have my orders from the Dark Lord….and speaking of orders, he would like me to give you a small taste of the punishment you must partake in for your embarrassing job at handling something as simple as your initiation…"

Draco felt full on fear as Snape looked down at him, moving his arms back he tried to latch onto something, to pull himself away and hopefully to his feet. But before he could find a purchase, he saw Snape's wand leveled down at him.

"_Crucio_!"

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and please review! tell me what you think!

-Sises


	10. A Meeting with the Dark lord

Several floors away, Hermione was sitting in Dumbledore's office giving him a detailed (though leaving out a few things of course) report of her time alone with the young Malfoy.

"And then Professor Snape came in sir…I apologize for my conduct sir, but I wasn't about to allow him to just curse me. Truthfully I expected something like that from him. But I did as Snape told me, I gave Malfoy his wand back, and came straight here."

Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself, she felt like the last few days had lasted forever. It was nice to finally know that all of the strangeness, being locked up with Malfoy was finally over. Hermione though tried not to pay attention to the voice in the back of her head, that told her she really didn't mind taking care of the blond, nor the little snog session she had with him. _But your not going to think about that Hermione, there are more important things to think about right now. _She tried not to think about the dreams that had almost plagued her nightly, except for last night…the night she had spent in Malfoy's bed.

Dumbledore for his part was being just as mysterious as always, sitting back in his chair, he seemed to listen patiently for Hermione to conclude her story. When she finally did finish, he barly seemed to notice at all. Eventually though he gave a slight throat clear, and his whole face seemed to reanimate as he spoke to her. Hermione noticed that his eyes were once again twinkling slightly.

"Miss Granger I do not blame you for you actions against Mr. Malfoy. Though the whole situation was regrettable, I shall not hold it against you to defend yourself. Especially against one such as Mr. Malfoy who is in a very tense situation, and is liable to lash out at anyone he can." Hermione personally didn't want to tell Dumbledore that she thought Malfoy was just being an arse like usual, that 'lashing out' had nothing to do with it. But she knew when to keep quiet.

"I know that this situation is going to be very confusing for everyone. Bringing such a young Death Eater into the order, and a Malfoy none the less is extremely dangerous on my part. But as the headmaster of this school I cannot allow such a young man to ruin his life when he has no choice in the matter. And as the leader and Secret Keeper of the Order, I have to accept any and all chances I can take to fight Voldemort."

"Of course sir…"

"Excellent, then I must ask something important of you. Seeing that as you and Mr. Malfoy seem to have survived well enough when under such close quarters, I would like you to be his Order Guard."

Dumbledore's eyes didn't even loose their calm appearance as he talked, he seemed for all the world to be as calm as ever, as if he was just discussing the taste of his morning tea. Hermione on the other hand had felt as if her eyes were close to popping out of her skull if they bulged out anymore. She had expected Dumbledore to of course mention what was to be done with Malfoy, but she didn't expect she was going to be involved with it!

"Guard sir? Are-are you telling me that you want me to guard Draco?" Hermione hadn't realized she had slipped and called Malfoy by his given name until it was too late.

"Miss Granger that is exactly it, though you are not an official member of the Order of the Phoenix, I am sure that you like your friends Mr.'s Potter and Weasley are eager to join us. And I believe it would prove a good test of your skills, if you were to watch Mr. Malfoy for the next few days."

All Hermione could do was nod along, though she didn't like the idea of having to trail the blond for any amount of time, she had to admit that she wanted to take a more active part in the war against Voldemort, all three of them did.

"Miss Granger I must tell you, that I am quite sure that if Mr. Malfoy had been given an actual choice of joining Voldemort that he would of not taken it. But I am not entirely convinced that he is loyal to us. He may not in his heat be loyal to the Death Eaters, but their way of dealing with traitors is a most compelling case when it comes to the decision to leave them"

"But Headmaster, he did have a choice, do you not remember? He even told me he chose to join you-k- excuse me, Voldemort. He all but bragged about it, he seemed for all purposes to be proud of his decision."

Hermione could remember quite well the argument the two of them had, how he had talked about it like it was something so great.

"Miss Granger, surely you know that is just what he wants us and possibly himself as well to believe? If even he believes that he made that choice on his own free will, then he is lost. Surely you can imagine what would of happened if he were to renounce his father's teachings in front of Voldemort? Or his parents themselves? No Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy has been conditioned to believe like that, he has been raised to hate us, to hate muggles, and to all but worship Lord Voldemort. I believe that to his family's eyes, there is very little else Draco is supposed to live for. "

Hermione thought this over for a moment, and she had to admit that it made sense. Why she was practically making the same point to the blond just the other day. _It seems strange that I was right, but even more so that someone else, especially Dumbledore believes the same thing…_

"Sir…Do you think that he is actually loyal to us? Do you think he has any reason to turn against Voldemort? Or that he even would want to? Especially considering how dangerous it is."

Dumbledore pierced her with his eyes, the twinkling now seemed to dim, his eyes were sad. The hint of a frown was on his face, Hermione was actually touched by the empathy the Headmaster showed for his students, even the ones who stood against him.

"Miss Granger, you are very correct to say that for a Death Eater there is danger in leaving, in fact there can be no greater danger, or punishment for one who wants to renounce his oath of servitude. I believe you have heard of Sirius' younger Brother Regulus?" When Hermione shook her head, he continued.

"Regulus was several years younger then Sirius, and unlike his brother he was not the so called black sheep of the family. Indeed I believe he was very much favored by his parents, unlike his older brother. I was regrettably unaware of his involvement with Lord Voldemort until his demise. He very much like Mr. Malfoy, he became a Death Eater sometime during his tenure at Hogwarts, I believe sometime in his late sixth year, or early seventh. Sometime after his graduation, not even a full year afterwards truthfully, Regulus was killed by his fellow Death Eaters, for trying to leave them. From what I am told, his betrayal only lasted a few weeks before he was caught."

Pictures of people running, and screaming, dark houses being lit up with the Dark Mark. Hermione wondering how terrifying it must have been to know that you were being chased by people you once accounted as allies, people who now were being sent to kill you.

" Yes Miss Granger, to leave the Death Eaters, is to mean a death warrant. But the same goes to those who oppose him. Truthfully Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy would be in no less danger then you or I are in were he to leave Lord Voldemort's circle. And unlike the late Regulus Black, he would also not be alone, he would have the protection of the Order, and myself."

"But he would need a reason to leave before he would accept that, and though I think what he's been through already is reason enough, I do not think he will see it that way."

" Can you not think of a single reason why he would actually want to leave his servitude behind? Can you not think of a single reason he might not want to return to his Master? Voldemort has never been a forgiving man, nor is he an understanding one. I believe Mr. Malfoy has a very good reason to never return to his fellow Death Eaters, and she's sitting right in front of me."

"Sir, you can't possibly mean-"

"Miss Granger I know that neither one of you believe it, but I still stand by my position before, I believe that on some level the two of you are connected, it is his love for you, that will lead him against Lord Voldemort."

Hermione was just about to contradict him, laugh at him. Say something about how that was the craziest thing she had ever heard, and that was taking in stories Malfoy told people about the 'greatness' of his family, and Ron's tales of his worldwide known womanizing skills. _Even if Malfoy would want to leave the Death Eaters. _And she knew there were no good reasons not to leave.

_Draco Malfoy could never love me, and he definitely would never turn against his Master for me!? Its laughable…he doesn't even like me._

But she couldn't find the words. Her mouth was glued shut, her tongue tied. Her eyes were focused somewhere else, as she remember last night, as she remembered their shared dreams, and their kiss once again.

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For what seemed like an eternity had finally ended for Hermione. As soon as Dumbledore let her leave his office, reminding her to go to all her afternoon classes after lunch. Hermione all but skipped as she realized she was now allowed to go where she pleased. The last few days locked up with Malfoy felt like they were a different world entirely. She felt like she had been secluded from the world for weeks instead of less then two days. _I wonder if anything interesting happened while I was gone…if Harry and Ron even missed me?_

Finding her way to the Great Hall, Hermione quickly pushed her way past the doors and found her seat at the Gryffindor table.Quickly grabbing a plate and helping herself to lunch Hermione was quick to grab Harry and Ron's attention, away from their food.

"So how was everything while I was gone?"

Like a bomb being dropped, both Ron and Harry stopped eating, and looked up in surprise. Harry's head whipped up so fast his glasses almost flew off his head, while Ron stabbed himself in the chin when as his head moved, his hand still trying to feed him.

Twin shouts of "Hermione!" echoed through the Gryffindor table, causing a few heads to turn in surprise, namely Ginny and Neville.

"Hey Hermione!"

"Where have you been?"

"Yeah tell us." Ron asked, his hand now resting safely on the table, the fork on his plate.

"Dumbledore mentioned something about St. Mungo's and the potion right?" Harry seemed to of been the only one who had paid any attention to the events going on around them.

Hermione smiled at all the people asking where she had been, all of them seemingly curious if not worried about her absence, smiling all the more, all the thoughts about Malfoy, and the Order, strange dreams and forbidden kisses were gone.

She quickly gave them the story Dumbledore told her, about how St. Mungo's had after a few tests and experiments, couldn't find the reason of the potions strange lack of effects, and had concluded that they must of made the potion incorrectly.

"They say you fudged up the potion? Please, they obviously don't know who they were dealing with. You've never gotten a potion wrong before." Hermione beamed at Ron's compliment, thanking him graciously. A compliment from Ronald Weasley was one to take seriously, as rare as they were.

"Didn't they test you two though? Make the potion themselves, and have you both take it then?"

Always the voice of reason and logic, Hermione smiled at Harry's sensibility.

"That's just it though, the potion would have had to be taken on the same day, at the same time to have a certain effect. They could of whipped up any old love or lust potion. But if they wanted to truly test our claim, they would have had to make the Metoninosus and had us taken it on the same day, at the same time as we did. It's a Love potion under any circumstances, but depending on the cycle of the moon, the seasons, whether it's a solstice or an equinox, it has a diverse effect on the potion."

" The seasons effect the outcome of potions? I've never heard of that before…"

Hermione continued to smile even wider, always loving to share information with those who weren't informed.

"Well it depends on the potion, though essentially the ingredients, Metoninosus is a very advanced potion, and the components of it are very rare and magical, which makes then susceptible to the patterns of magic. The seasons, the whether, the phase of the moon, the distance of the sun…all these things have a small effect on the properties of certain magical ingredients."

The blank faces of the two boys before her, both made her amused and annoyed at the same time. _Boys…not the most intelligent of Natures creations…_

"So for example if you completely randomized the time the ingredients were harvested, like ones from mid summer, to ones from winter, to ones during the morning and what not…how diverse could you change Metoninosus around?"

Taking a few bites of food, Hermione shrugged a bit as she look over at them.

"Essentially, you could create nothing more potent then tap water, something that wouldn't create a feeling of lust in something the size of a worm, or on the other hand, you could create something so powerful it would be like the worlds most powerful aphrodisiac."

Ron seemed to be thinking about something profound, as if he had discovered the secrets of the universe, while Harry seemed to be holding in laughter.

"Wow…who would of imagined something interesting about potions…" Hermione just sighed. Not even wanting to remind him of the benefits of actually studying. Harry it seemed couldn't hold in his laughter's as he snorted into his eggs. finally asking what was so funny, Harry just looked over at her with a glint in his eye.

" Sorry, its just I was just amused by what you said…you said Metoninosus could in essence become the worlds most powerful aphrodisiac right?"

Hermione nodded, wondering with some trepidation where he was going with this.

"I just got the image of you and Malfoy hooked up on that stuff…could you imagine the two of you on something like that? Like you had both tried to overdose on ecstasy or something. Maybe it's a good thing Saint Mungo's didn't try to make the potion."

"Harry!" reaching her hand over, she smacked the bespectacled boy on the head, before sitting back and trying her best to ignore the two of them

Hermione all but shuddered at the images that Harry had thrown in her head. _A good thing indeed…all any one would want is me and Malfoy going at it like a pair of…oh Merlin…thank you Harry, thank you very much, for that mental picture._

A few seconds past as the three of them continued to eat. Lunch was almost over, and Hermione was looking forward to all of her afternoon classes, it had felt like so long ago she had been in class.

"So what exactly is overdosing on Ecstasy?"

Hermione and Ron both snorted into their food, Harry almost spraying them all with pumpkin juice.

Hermione was about to divert the subject onto their afternoon classes, when an unexpected object smacked her in the side of the face.

"What in Merlin's name was that?" Looking down at her plate, Hermione saw that it was a letter addressed to her in a flowing script. Glancing towards the cloudy ceiling Hermione noticed a small owl flying away out of sight.

"Little late for post isn't it Hermione?" asked Harry, recovering from his embarrassing

"Do you know who its from?"

"No idea." she answered.

Reaching down Hermione delicately opened the letter, to see that it was as usual a piece of parchment, and like the name of the recipient on the front, it was written in a very formal, flowing script. Hermione could only guess at first who it was, it wasn't until she had started reading the letter that she knew for sure who it was.

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_As we were more occupied with discussing other matters, I did not fully explain to you your directions when I asked you to be an Order Guard. As you can guess the term 'Order Guard' is as much a title as it is an description of your duty. Though it is quite misleading, as I do not expect you to protect your charge from danger._

_What is expected of you Miss Granger, is that you shall become a shadow, following behind footsteps and seeing where your charge goes and to what purpose. I am not asking you to spy, as you will not be sneaking up behind anyone in dark corners, but walking along side as much as you can. Because the public eye always adds more suspicion, I ask that you keep a much more discreet during the day light hours, perhaps an ingenious tool of mischief can help you in your task?_

_It is during the night though that I would like you to take a personal touch in watching, one of my most trusted advisors has already spoken with your charge of your order's and you should not allow resistance in any way. It is not only for their own good that you are there, for if trouble does arise, you can be quick to notify myself and others to come to aid you, but to our own organization as well. For if the loyalty of this one is indeed not align with our own path, then we shall at least know the truth._

_I know that you are new to this, and therefore I ask you to meet with me in person, if you have any problems or difficulties with your orders, take care of yourself, and keep a close eye on your charge Miss Granger._

_At this moment you can consider yourself an unofficial member of the Order of the Phoenix. I ask of you not to notify **anyone** of your objectives, not even your two companions, I must remind you to take your orders with absolute seriousness, I am trusting you with this miss Granger, you must always remember that we are at war. Even if it is a war held in the shadows it is a war at any rate. Lives are at stake at all times._

_Keep your eyes open, and your head down. If there are any changes in your orders, or if I need you to complete a different task, I shall make sure you are aware._

_Please dispose of this letter after you are done reading it, lest it fall into the wrong hands._

_Torch Bearer for the Order of the Phoenix_

Taking out her wand, Hermione quickly spelled the parchment to burst into flames, and burn quickly. When Harry and Ron looked at her strangely, Hermione just smiled and shook her head. She was happy to see them both give her one more strange look before nodding their heads as her. Hermione knew that they had understood her unspoken statement. _Sometimes friends have to keep secrets from one another, but only for the best of reasons._

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Night quickly came for Draco Malfoy, the day light seemed to seep away as his own nervousness rose. He had spent most of the day just recuperating and thinking, after the last Crucio that Snape had cast on him, and the knowledge that he was to be called to meet with the Dark Lord personally, he decided some time alone would be good. _If not on my mind, then just on my muscles…_

In his dorm, Draco was laying down on his bed, thinking over all the things that had happened in the last few days. Not even twenty four hours after he had become a servant of the Dark Lord, did he find himself trapped by the enemy, and now forced to spy for them

_And now I have to go meet with him, to beg for forgiveness and another chance…and I don't even know what's in store for me…_

Images of himself being tortured worse then he had been on his initiation night ran through his head, all it did was make him feel slightly queasy with nerves, and cause his arms and legs to ache even more.

"Why did I have to fuck up so badly…"

Closing his eyes he tried to will the images away, but they wouldn't leave him…they continued to play over and over again…like an endless nightmare he saw on just the other side of his vision, almost superimposed over his sight. Looking over at his desk, he thought he'd concentrate on homework, hoping school would distract him from his upcoming duties. Moving over, he shuffled a few pieces of parchment aside, a few old beginnings of essays, Charms homework, Transfiguration notes, and a few problems from Arithmancy. _With Granger…_

Draco's eyes closed tightly at the thought. _Granger…I completely forgot about her, her and HER duty towards me…my damn watch dog…watching my every move, detailing where and what I do._ Merlin this isn't working… Tossing a few pieces of parchment and quills through his room, Draco quickly withdrew his wand and tried to blast a few of them with various spells. _If homework won't distract me, then this will. _Draco continued to ball up some parchment and toss it in the air, then quickly wielding his wand, and trying to curse it before it hit the ground. _Practice makes perfect…_

When Draco found that he barly hit more then half his targets, that more often then not his spells just barly missed his mark, scorching wall instead of paper, he let out a small shout of rage.

"Damnit! I'm better then this, I have to be!"

Grabbing more pieces of parchment, he balled them up and tossed them in the air, now focusing on his Unforgivables, trying to cast a Crucio on one paper, then Avada Kadavra a second time. Draco smiled with pride when his second curse hit its mark, causing the paper to burst into bright green flames, that quickly consumed themselves leaving only the smallest of ashes to float to the floor.

Draco continued with his impromptu training session, quickly forgetting about his duties, about his school even. Casting spell after spell, he didn't even think as he spoke the words, a few times he found himself skipping over the words, and for once he was successful with his silent casting.

_HA! I can do it! Finally._ Draco had been trying to days, no weeks, to get his silent casting under control, and so far he had only been able to master the easiest of spells, first year and second year ones.

_And like anyone is going to care if I can cast Lumos, or Agilis quietly…_ He couldn't even get Petrificus Totalus, or Expelliarmus to work with perfect efficiency.

_Not exactly the best way to start out my Death Eater career._ Shaking his head Draco tried once more to get a few spells out without speaking, but now they weren't working with him.

_Too Distracted Draco…stop thinking about it all._

For the next fifteen minutes Draco practiced, and practiced…until he eventually ran out of parchment, and he had to resort to transfiguring quills and spare bits of trash into makeshift targets.

After a few more minutes Draco's arm was getting tired, and he thought it best time to quit. Grabbing one of his transfigured quills in hand, which now resembled a small black ball. Draco tossed it in the air with a short, wide arc. Taking careful aim Draco cast the first spell that came to mind and watched with excitement as the red beam shot out of his wand and hit the ball with dead on accuracy, causing it to explode with a shower of gold and silver sparks. _Bet Granger never had so much fun teaching herself to cast silently…_

Draco whipped his head up at the thought, and proceed to kick his bed in frustration, his job was to try and not think about anything going on outside his dorm, and here he was just after he had finished practicing his magic, back to thinking about the mudblood again. _Stupid bushy haired beaver muggle loving mudblood WHORE! _

Kicking his bed in frustration twice more, Draco ran a hand through his now slightly damp hair. All the magical exertion had caused him to sweat slightly, his arms tired from throwing, and his body feeling physically drained. Looking down at the mess he made, the ashes and parchment balls all over the place, the disaster and scorch marks all his spells made through the room, Draco wondered idly how he was going t explain this to his dorm mates. But then he remembered that he truly didn't give a damn. _There are more important things to deal with._

Looking up from the disaster that was his floor, Draco glanced down at his trunk at the foot of his bed. Taking a quick look around his empty room, Draco cast a silencing charm on the door, and as best a locking charm as he could. Reaching down to his trunk he opened it slowly to reveal, all his school supplies, his potions kits, ingredients, books and spare bits of parchment. Draco closed the lid, and tapped it three times with his wand, opening it a second time he found all his clothing, his robes, his hats and gloves, his trousers. Even some Quidditch gear was stashed near the bottom of the trunk. Closing it again, he once again tapped it three times with his wand, this time speaking a password each time he tapped it.

"_Sacer Concendo Somnus" _

Draco opened the trunk a third time, this time much slower then the last, while glancing over his shoulder at the door, as if expecting someone to burst in at any moment. Laying in this trunk was his secret, of secrets. Laying down on a small pile of black robes, and cloaks, was what looked to be a skull. It was only a partial skull, modeled after a human one, but missing the lower jaw bone. It was Draco's Death Eater Robes the lay before him, his mask, hood, robes and cloak. The uniform of the Death Eaters, each one was unique to the wearer, designed by the Dark Lord himself, each skull had one small aspect about it that was unique, a way to distinguish one Death Eater from another Draco thought.

Running one hand down the side of his mask, Draco almost felt a childlike curiosity and excitement at the whole idea, even now. He ran his finger down the side of the skull, to just below the right eye socket, where a large crack extended down through the rest of the mask. Draco, feeling the smooth surface of the skull, and looking at the way the mask looked at him, both evil and yet sad looking at the same time. He once again wondered if the mask was the actual skull of some unfortunate person as he had heard rumors too, or just the work of some excellent spell work.

Draco knew that it really didn't matter one way or another, as some excellent spell work could technically create something as close to an actual human skull as you could get, but the idea that he wore someone's actual remains, someone's actual head. _It fits in with the Dark Lord to do such a thing…_

_I wonder if it was a person…was he a victim of the Dark Lord? Was he a enemy of him? Or a Death Eater? Was it a spy? A follower that had turned against him?….Like me? _

Draco continued to look at the skull in front of him, and his mind turned to the mark on his left arm. Turn his arm up, Draco pushed his sleeve down and looked at the mark burned into his flesh. _Have I really turned again the Dark Lord? Am I really a traitor to my master? To my family? Is it really possible for me to get away from him? From them? From all of this? The entire war? Is it possible to escape?_

As if answering his questions, Draco's mark suddenly turned a violent shade of black, so dark he could no longer see the outlines of the mark, until it was nothing more then just a black shape on his arm. With it came pain, like a brand on his arm, a white hot iron, it burned into his flesh so much he almost expected to hear his skin sizzle.

Gritting his teeth to stop himself from screaming out loud, Draco quickly did his best to don his Robes. Placing his mask in a pocket, Draco cast a concealment charm on himself, so no one would notice his strange look of attire. Taking one last pained look back at his bed, his comfortable Slytherin dorm, where he had spent the last sixth years or so sleeping peacefully, with nothing more then school work and Harry Potter to worry about. Draco left his dorm and quickly ran out of the common room, eager to get out of the castle just so he could apparate away and end the pain his arm was in. As Draco finally felt the wind and cold air on his face, as he was nearing the Forest where he could apparate safely, he wondered if he would ever see his dorm again. If he would even survive this meeting, or whatever it was the Dark Lord wanted him to do.

Just Seconds after he had dissaparated, Hermione Granger appeared out of thin air a few meters from the spot he had just left, holding an invisibility cloak in her hand, and a rumpled piece of parchment she looked in determination at the spot where he had been.

"I'll be waiting for when you get back Malfoy…"

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The ground was soft and wet, like mud Draco thought when he apparated. It was also very dark, so dark it was almost impossible to see anything. He seemed to be in some kind of forest, though he couldn't tell where. _Surely this isn't just some part of the Forbidden forest? Surely the Dark Lord isn't hiding out just miles from Hogwarts?_

Walking a few steps forward, Draco had to be careful to keep his balance as he felt like one false step could cause one left to be stuck in the ground, while the other kept going, causing him to fall face first into whatever it is he was stepping on. _I hope to Merlin that it is mud…but this forest…its so dark…so unholy almost…almost like a Dementor. Sucking all the good out of you…_

It only took a few more steps before Draco felt him, almost like a Dementor himself, Draco could feel his presence, and it was all together unsettling.

"So young Malfoy, you have answered my call…You were not afraid to come back to me?"

Dropping to his knees, Draco winced at the squelching sound his knees made when he hit the ground, he could just barly see the outline of his Master before him, so pale he seemed to almost radiate a cold light. Bowing his head before him he spoke, his tone subdued, no hint of a drawl, or sarcasm in it.

"No my Master…I come before you willingly, with every intention of fulfilling whatever it is you want of me."

Voldemort's let out a cold dark laugh, a soft chuckle that pierced the woods around them, like a dark wind.

"Yes I do hope for your sake you have every intention of fulfilling my wishes, you failed me utterly on your Initiation Draco…you were caught, and by a mudblood, but not just any mudblood. Harry Potters Mudblood no less…Now that he knows you are a servant of mine, that Dumbledore knows…you are all but expendable…you know this don't you?"

"Yes Master."

"And yet here you are, you came to my summon as if you, like your father, are my loyal and obedient servant…why is that "

Draco shivered at the way the Dark Lord spoke of his father, a man who taught him Malfoys are the greatest of the Wizards, who had the purist line. And here was a man he knew to be a halfblood, to speak of his Father as if he was nothing more then a slave, then a poor house elf with no rights or dignities.

"I came because I am yours to call Master, I bow before you, I serve only you, on my oath I swore it."

Draco didn't hear him, or see him. But suddenly lord Voldemort was right before him, placing one hand on each of his shoulders.

" Yes you are my servant Draco…mine to do with as I wish." Voldemort shoved both his hands backwards, and with a surprised gasp Draco flew to the ground, and actually sunk into a the ground a few inches. Draco was astounded at the strength the man had, who he knew had to be at least seventy by now, and yet he held the muscular strength of an ox it seemed.

"You do not even deserve to kneel at my feet yet Malfoy, you who failed me on your first night, should be killed like the useless fool you are."

Draco watched with horror as the he withdrew a wand from his robes and pointed it at him, he watched the tip of his wand as if he expected it to shoot forth with a blast of bright horrifying green. Draco wondered what it felt like to die for the first time.

"You have one last chance young Malfoy, before I dispose of you as you no doubt deserve…you do know this don't you?"

"Yes Master."

"You know that you are worthless do you not? That I should kill you now?"

"Y-yes Master."

"What was that?"

"Yes Master, I know."

Voldemort's eyes blazed with cruel amusement as he stared down at Draco, his wand not moving the slightest.

"Then say it to me…that you deserve to die."

"I-I" Draco felt sweat on his forehead, even through the cold of the night air, he felt his body sweating. He didn't know what to say.

"SAY it!" Draco felt a quick blast of Crucio from the Dark Lords wand, though he had never seen it coming, hadn't seen a burst of light, or a spoken word.

"I-I deserve to Die, my Master."

"You deserve death."

"I deserve death." Draco felt his hands shaking, he wished for a moment that he could go for his wand, to do something but he knew it would have been suicide to even appear to be defending himself…no matter the comfort it would be to just hold the wood in his hands.

"Ask for it…"

"My Lord?"

"Ask for it!"

"I-I want death my lord."

"What do you want?"

"I want to die…"

"As you wish young Malfoy…"

Draco couldn't keep his eyes on the Dark lord, he hoped in the darkness it was impossible to tell where he was looking, but Draco knew it wouldn't matter. He was going to die anyways. Snape had lied to him, he had told him he had one more chance…one more try to prove himself worthy. And here he was, tricked by his Master into a word game, to ask for death. _But what could I do, if I refused to say it, he would of killed me…but now I just asked him to kill me?!_

Seconds past by, and Draco still didn't feel any pain, or change in the wind. He was still alive, and slowing sinking into the mud at the Dark Lords feet. Realizing he had his eyes clenched shut, he opened them to see the Dark Lord smiling down at him, his wand still pointing at him.

"_Crucio!"_

The pain went on for some time, Draco didn't know. It got to the point where he no longer knew if he was screaming or not, sound seemed to disappear altogether. And then suddenly it stopped, he could hear himself panting, somehow he had ended up on all fours, now completely covered in mud, his throat hoarse from no doubt screaming. Trying to wipe some mud from his face, Draco tried to catch his breathing, not sure if he should be thankful that the spell had been lifted, or fearful of what may come next.

"Malfoy…As I said you have one last chance to please me…and as you just said yourself. You do not even deserve that, but nothing less then death. And I shall give it to you, if you fail me. In fact, it might even be your father himself who does it…once I get him out of Azkaban, he would be just fine killing you if I asked it…"

"So here I give you your last orders…I ask of you to complete a task for me. One that shall both redeem you, by showing me how capable you are, and how willing you are to follow my orders. And as an attack against that Mudblood loving fool Dumbledore…"

Sitting up now, Draco shakily got to his feet, and stood staring that the Dark Lord dutifully, trying his best to stop his legs from twitching.

"I ask you once more, one last time. On your oath, you swore to do any and everything I told you to, under penalty of death…is your oath binding?"

"It is my lord."

Voldemort's eyes gleamed red for a moment, Draco imagined that his skin actually lit up with its glow, but he knew it was just his imagination and fear taking over. _The Dark lord is just knowledgeable in the dark arts…he is not truly evil, he is in control of his power, and his greed…I'm sure of it…_

"Then here it is…before the summer months have come, while you are still in your sixth year of schooling, I want you to locate a family for me. A muggle family, two people, a man and a women who are the parents of one of your fellow classmates. This family I want you to make an example of them, I want you to use them to break the spirit of both Dumbledore and Potter. Can you do that for me?"

Draco knew there had to be more to this, for such a last chance it was too open ended…he knew there was more.

"Yes my lord…but which family of muggles do you want me to make an example of?"

"Well, Snape tells me that the fool of a headmaster you have has used the very girl who found you, to be your guard. He tells me how you are now pretending to be a spy for them and their damn order. I want you to get back at the Mudblood for this…it is her parents I want you to locate, and make an example of."

Draco felt his insides go cold. _Granger…he wants me to kill Grangers parents…_

"You want me to kill them before the school year is over my Lord?"

Laughing once again, he shook his head.

"No Malfoy…I want you to find them, before the school year is over. On the first day back from Hogwarts you are to go to the Mudbloods home, and while she is watching I want you to completely and utterly ruin her. Make her watch, make her cry, make her soul shatter in horror at what you do. And then kill her after you have disposed of the parents. I want you to use the Mudblood position as your guard to your advantage. Snape told me how you too were forced to room together during your recuperation, use whatever you can to get her to trust you if you want, maybe she will tell you where she lives…women are weak, use it to your advantage."

_He wants me to torture them, and Granger…I have to kill her…and her parents…Snape is a loyal Death Eater…he told him all of this… _Draco swallowed past a large lump in his throat, though he knew his task was not going to be a pretty one, he hadn't expected it to be so personal. Though he by no stretch of the imagination liked Granger at all, he knew her. For sixth years, he had gone to classes with her, ate meals in the same room as her, they had the same teachers, knew the same people, they've had to work on projects together, and just days ago he had spent over a full day locked in a room with the girl. To kill an stranger is one thing…to kill someone you know, to torture them and their family…

"I understand my lord…I will find the family, torture all three of them, and dispose of them as you have asked."

"Not yet Malfoy…you have not heard what I have in mind for them."

"Do you have a particular method of torture you want me to use my lord?"

The smile that came to the Voldemort's face made Draco cringe, it was happy…eerily so.

"Oh yes young Malfoy…I have the perfect method for you to use…"

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A half hour later found Draco Malfoy stumbling towards Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Ironically similar to just a few days ago, Malfoy though this time was not fighting to get to the castle from pain, but from desperation and fear. _And disgust…utter disgusts._

Feeling absolutely sick to his stomach, Draco's mind flashed back to the images the Dark Lord had put into his mind, literally put into his mind. Fearing the blond would not get the point across, the Dark lord had put an actual visual of what the general idea of what he was supposed to do. Draco was forced to watch for half an hour the 'torture' he as supposed to put the grangers through, he watched an image created by the Dark Lords twisted imagination as he did things to the grangers that was to him, beyond horrible.

_He…he…actually wants me too…._

Falling to his knee's Draco threw up all over the lawns of the school, his stomach heaved, and his mouth burned. But the images wouldn't leave his head.

It was after a few more violent heaves that he finally wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his robe, and tried to get to his feet. His whole body was shaking, but he didn't know if it was from the cold, the vomiting, or the things he was told to do. _If I don't…I die…_

_Death might be better…_

Shocked that he actually believed that, that he felt the words to be true, Draco hurried to get into the castle. Tripping over his own feet, Draco felt the image come once again, now it was playing through his eyes, disrupting his vision as he tried to walk. One second he was in the middle of the night with the doors to the Castle in sight, a split second later he was in what the Dark Lord imagined the Grangers living room to look, hearing the screams of the family as he…

_I can actually hear them…screaming…I can feel myself…their blood on my hands…their skin torn…I can see, and hear, and feel it all…_

Draco fell to his knee's at the feet of the Castle steps, placing a hand up to his face, he was surprised when it felt wet. Glancing up at the sky he was confused when he saw it was a clear night sky, and that it hadn't rained in days. It took him a few seconds to realize the wetness he felt were tears, his tears…coming down hot over his cheeks. _I…Merlin…what…what am I going to do? What can I do…either I do what he asks of me…or I die! What am I supposed to do!_

Shaking a bit, Draco felt himself curl up in a ball at the feet of the castle, no longer caring who saw him he now let him self cry, his sobs ringing against the silent night, almost seemed to echo across the grounds.

Draco felt himself sob for several minutes, before he realized he wasn't alone. Not caring who saw him at this point, _Azkaban would be better then what I have to face…_

He looked up expecting to find another person who now discovered his secret, hoping it was Potter to put him out of his misery, he was surprised to see that it was Granger who was standing before him. She at first seemed to have looked down on him with a look of anger and disgust when she apparently saw his tear strained face.

"Oh, its just my shadow…"

"Malfoy…what happened?! Are you hurt, did they torture you again?!"

_Granger…don't say torture please…_

Draco felt his stomach twitch just at the sight of the girl, and the things he was told to do to her.

_I want you to break her Draco, Break her family, make her watch…then break her while her family watches….take their lives while she is already at her worst, while the wounds are still fresh. And then when you are finished with them, kill her…and send my sign in the sky. It won't take anyone long to realized what exactly happened to them…the results will shatter Potter and Dumbledore…their sense of good prevailing over evil, of light over darkness, will be destroyed._

Like a mantra, like a horrible dream, Draco couldn't get the Dark Lords voice out of his head, get the images the sick freak put into his head, like it was a freaking bedtime story.

"Malfoy, what's wrong? Here let me help." Reaching towards him, Draco jumped away, over the side of the stairs, down into the mud.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

_Where I belong now…_

He crawled backwards, trying to get as much of a distance away from her as he could.

"Get away from me Granger…Don't touch me!"

"Malfoy what's wrong?! What happened, what did he do?"

Closing his eyes, Draco felt himself wanting to throw up once more. No matter what he did he had to be near Granger, he had classes with her, he ate meals with her. And now she was his shadow for the Order.

_I have to tell Snape this…Dumbledore…She'll find out…I-I can't tell anyone what he wants me to do…I…no…please…_

"Malfoy? Draco? What happened?"

_Its not what happened…_

Opening his eyes Draco looked up at Hermione Granger, who for all the things he's done to her, for all the mean things he's said to her. She actually looked concerned for him, actually fearful for the Death Eater lying in the mud before her, covered in all sorts of filth.

_Suddenly I feel like the dirty one, while she looks so pure and good…_

_Those images…they seemed so real…I could feel myself, I could feel them…hear them._

_What am I going to do?_

Draco close his eyes and tried to think of something happy something peaceful. The image of the Room of Requirement came to mind, of Hermione kissing him in the middle of the night, of waking up next to her.

And then he pictured himself pushing her off the bed, of binding her hands and legs, her mouth…and finding her parents and…

_Please no…_

"Malfoy! What happened to you!"

Looking up at her, Draco could barly talk, his voice shaking from his tears.

"Its now what happened to me, its what's going to happen to you."

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A/N: I hope you all like this Chapter, I've been trying to get this one out for some time, but I had to have all these scenes...it just didn't seem right to cut it in half, so here you go, a nice long Chapter to keep you happy. and I know I didn't say exactly what Draco's mission is, but I'm sure if you think about it you can guess. It'll will of course be given full detail in the next few chapters. But I hope you all enjoy this one and please review...this will most likly be my last update of the year, unless I have lots of free time and the inspiration to just want to write alot.

Please Review! and thank you, -Sises


	11. A Battle of Wills

"Draco?" For once Hermione Granger could actually say she was sacred for Draco Malfoy, actually seriously scared for the boy. When she had found him the first time, twitching and all but unconscious from the Cruciatus, she felt bad for him, sad even. But she knew that deep down he deserved what he had gotten, he had made the choice to join Voldemort. _And some things can't be taken back._

What she saw before her though was not some Death Eater in pain from his insane master, but a boy, almost a man, who to Hermione's eyes had been reduced to a shell of his former self. She could barly even recognize the person on the ground as Draco Malfoy, she didn't see even a hint of a smirk, or sarcasm on a single inch of his body. All she saw was a boy covered in mud, scared beyond all understanding, and shamelessly crying for everyone to see and hear.

_Crying…Malfoy was actually crying, he didn't even care that I saw him…what could of possibly happened to him?!_

Though Hermione had heard him perfectly, she didn't believe or even understand him. Surely something horrible had happened to him to put him in this shape, but no idea or plan, no matter how horrible could of reduced the proud blond into this.

_He doesn't even care about me in the first place, maybe if he was Harry or Ron…_

Trying once again, Hermione moved closer to the boy, she hopped off the stairs and landed square in the mud, just a few inches from the blonds legs. Instantly Draco all but scrambled to get away from her, his arms dug themselves into the mud, trying to find purchase, as if she was death itself, coming to claim his soul.

"Draco? What is it? Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you." As soon as she finished speaking she saw Draco flinch as if she had raise her hand to slap him, his head turned away, and Hermione tried not to notice as his body shook silently. Utterly confused, Hermione tried once again to get closer to the boy, needing to see what the problem was so she could help. Taking a small breath, Hermione leaped for him, grabbing Draco by the end of his robe. Keeping a tight grip on it, Hermione all but crawled up to him, both hands eventually pining him down to the ground by his shoulders.

"Stop trying to run! I'm not going to hurt you…I-I want to help."

Hermione tried to understand what was going on, but she still couldn't see any visible wound on the boy, and he wasn't behaving anything like he would be if he had been subjected to a large amount of Cruciatus. _Then what the bloody hell is causing him this much pain?!_

"Draco, just tell me what's wrong, what's hurting you!"

His eyes were clenched shut, his jaw clamping together, but his arms were shaking. Hermione was shocked to see the utter difference in the boy, as opposed to how he usually was. If he didn't have the striking blond hair, she would never of guessed he was even the same person.

"Please…let me go Granger…"

"Not until you tell me what's wrong, what spell did he cast on you?!"

"He didn't cast a spell on me, he- Merlin make it stop…Granger let me go!" Hermione was surprised when she felt herself being lifted up off him. Draco had for a second seemed to lapse out of the conversation, as if he wasn't quite sure where he was. But suddenly his eyes popped open and he was glaring at her with anger and frustration.

Draco apparently finding the strength within himself, was able to eventually push Hermione completely off of him. Not trusting himself to actually stand, he just moved a few more inches away, his body tired, and now starting to feel the cold air of night, as his body started shaking.

"No, just leave me alone Granger…you can't help me, just leave, and help yourself."

"Like that's going to happen Malfoy! Now tell me what happened, what's put you in such a state?" Draco though wouldn't look at her, he moved over a bit, pressing his back against the wall of the castle, he just sat their, gazing out across the grounds.

"Draco, at least answer me, if you won't look at me. Say something."

But he didn't.

Hermione was confused, this didn't seem at all like Draco Malfoy. Last time he had returned from Voldemort he had been in pain, barly conscious, but he had still been his usual self, sarcastic, cruel and unfriendly. Now he seemed to exhibit no emotion at all, his entire self seemed cold an unfeeling. _Except his eyes…_ Hermione noticed just now that the one thing that truly looked alive on the boy were his eyes. _the eyes are windows into your soul…_The old saying struck Hermione just now as she looked into his eyes.

What she saw was pain, complete pain and fear…the boy may of not been responding to much of anything, but his eyes were wide aware of something, and Hermione felt that it wasn't the grounds before them that was catching his undivided attention.

"Let me help you…"

Her words faded into the night, like a wisp of smoke they disappeared on the night air, as if they never would. A few minutes seemed to pass where Hermione wasn't entirely sure she had actually said anything or not, her words seemed to have such little effect on him.

_Something's wrong…seriously wrong to done this to him. Not Cruciatus, but perhaps some mind altering spell? A bad Imperio? Or maybe perhaps legilimency gone wrong? I need to get him to Madam Pomfrey…or perhaps Snape. Yes Snape would be much better, he might actually know what this is, and he would be the safest to keep the knowledge with…I'm not sure Pomfrey is allowed to know anything about this…_

Hermione watched him for a moment longer, not entirely sure what she was supposed to do. She felt the burden of her membership to the Order on her. Yes she was now a member, but before she had felt like it was more of a way to appease her constant nagging, while allowing them to get what they wanted in return. She of course had all the respect for the headmaster, but she knew a cunning man when she saw someone, Dumbledore was no saint, he was not above handing out some iron pyrite in exchange for gold.

But now she wasn't quite sure of how exactly to handle things, she had her orders of course. _No one is to know about it, except Snape, Dumbledore, and the two of us…Which leaves Pomfrey out of the question…but how exactly do I get Draco to cooperate?_

Glancing at him once more Hermione found her answer. Kneeling before her was not a school yard bully anymore, though he had yet to of committed any serious crime, the boy before her was a Death Eater, though forced to become a spy. Hermione remembered that this was a war they were in, not a hunt, a mystery to be solved just in the nick of time. People were going to be killed before this was all over, possibly even herself. Malfoy stood an even higher chance of becoming a casualty of war, having unwillingly betrayed his master…a man who knows nothing of loyalty, or morals.

_How do I get him to come with me…_

Hermione regrettably pulled her wand out of her sleeve.

_However I must…_

"Draco I know you can hear me…but I need you to follow me, you and I are going to do what we've been told. We are going to go speak with Professor Snape."

And yet Draco still did not respond, he continued to gaze out a the grounds, contemplating the meaning of life for all Hermione knew.

Leveling her wand at him, Hermione sent out a few sparks that shot into his lap. Surprised Malfoy flinched a bit, before looking up at her in alarm.

"What are you doing Granger?! How stubborn can you get, just leave."

Casting another quick just of sparks, these ones smacking him square in the chest, Hermione said nothing.

If the sparks caused him any sort of discomfort he barly showed it. Standing up he quickly brushed a hand down his front, he now started to look a bit more like his usual self.

"Have you gone mad Granger, what are you going to do next-

"_Silencio._ Now Malfoy, as I said, follow me to Professor Snape, its late, quite cold out and I'm tired of playing games. Let me do my job, and let Snape cure whatever it is that's affecting you. No more just sitting around, get up."

Hermione actually found herself a bit impressed with the way she handled it, though she was sure that if glares could kill she would have been blown to pieces by now. Hermione felt that she had done a good job so far of getting his attention, now it was only a matter of getting him to walk down to the dungeons.

All Draco did was continue to glare at her, though he half heartedly raised a hand at her, and flipped her a bird. Hermione actually found it amusing enough to smile, but her eyes flashed anger as she shot sparks at the boy once more.

"Funny Malfoy, now once again, start walking before I am forced to stun you and levitate your prone body all the way to the dungeons."

Incidentally enough, Malfoy didn't believe her threat was genuine, as he slowly turned his back to her and started to sit down once more.

Hermione though was not kidding, and with a calmness that surprised even herself, she stupefied the boy, and quickly levitated him before he could fall to far to the ground.

It was oddly empowering she felt to be levitating an unconscious Malfoy around the Castle, able to drop him down a flight of stairs, or leave him in some unknown room if she so wished…she was living out every Gryffindor's daydream.

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Severus Snape was not a man who slept easily, his nights were usually one's of little sleep, where what sleep he does get is full of tossing and turning, and usually nightmares the which he himself is left shaking in the dead of night. Needless to say on the nights when he manages to fall asleep, much less fall asleep before it is technically morning, he is not prone to enjoying being rudely woken up. Especially by students, of which he finds annoying enough during the day time.

"Miss Granger, unless the hounds of hell itself are on your heels about to devour your very soul before my eyes, I suggest you stop pounding on my door, and leave me alone."

"I'm sorry Professor but its urgent, me and Malfoy are here to report the night's activities, I guess you would say."

Raising one dark eyebrow, the potions master glanced at the young lady before his door, he look out into the darkened corridor once before looking back at her.

"Miss Granger, I think you best explain yourself…I do not see Mr. Malfoy anywhere in my presence." _Nor do I truthfully want to see him, or you, or anyone at the moment…_

Hermione moved aside for a moment and briefly waved something through with her wand. Something which Severus Snape could rightly admit to himself he would never expect to have seen in his entire life. _Draco Malfoy, levitated through the Castle by Miss Granger…however did she manage that without dropping him down a flight of stairs…_

Shaking his head, Severus realized that he was still half asleep, and not nearly as snaky and sarcastic as he would of liked.

"Now you really need to explain yourself miss Granger, bring the boy in here, put him on the couch and do not touch a single thing!" Turning around Severus disappeared into another room, leaving Hermione to float the still unconscious blond into Snape's private quarters.

_And here's a room I never wanted to see in my darkest nightmares…_Hermione though never having actively feared her potions professor in her life, understood that he was not a pleasant man, and she had no desire to spend any time with him then she had too.

Hermione though was presently surprised to see that Snape's private quarters, were not as dark, dreary or eerie as his classrooms were, or as she was told his office was. They didn't have an abundance of Slytherin green and silver, nor did were they filled with jars of pickled dragon livers, or other such disgusting things.

Really she figured that with a bit more light, especially a window or two, the room might have been somewhat cozy. She was currently standing (she didn't really want to touch any of his furniture.) in what must of counted as the mans living room. It was relatively bare, but had what seemed to be a very comfortable couch of dark brown leather, facing a large fire place. There was a strong looking dark wooden coffee table and a few matching leather chairs on either side of the couch, facing one another. His mantle was filled with books, and he seemed to have a cabinet filled with several different kinds of potion bottles near the wall.

Hermione though was very tempted to rest for a moment on one of the chairs, the couch as per instructed was housing the no longer floating, but still unconscious form of Malfoy, who seemed to be very uncomfortable if the look his face was anything to go by. Hermione was briefly wondering if someone was able to dream while stunned like that, when Snape reentered the room, now sporting his usual garb of black teaching robes, instead of the simple black shirt and trousers he had on moments before.

"Though as uncomfortable as you must be in my private quarters miss Granger, standing will only make it worse. I suggest you sit down, and do your best to explain what exactly happened to Mr. Malfoy."

Snape wasted no time in quickly marching across the room to his cabinet, opening it, he removed a thick glass and one bottle. Moving back to the center of the room, he sat himself down and proceeded to pour the contents of the bottle into his glass.

Hermione was surprised at the relaxed pose her professor was in, she assumed it was because he was in his natural habitat, and that it was late at night, but even so she had never seen the professor so comfortable before, it was completely strange, and foreign to her. And if anything made her more uncomfortable then if he had been yelling at her, threatening her with expulsion.

She was also surprised when she realized that the liquid in the cabinet, and in the bottle that Snape was pouring into his glass, were not pre-made potions for some reason or other, but liquor and if her nose was telling her anything from having such close contact with the smell of the dark amber color drink, it was quite strong too.

Snape it seemed held no compunctions about drinking late at night (though this case it might have been early in the morning by now.) or while in front of an underage student of his. He seemed to both sip and guzzle the drink at the same time, perking up with every swallow.

_Not surprising that Snape would use alcohol as his morning coffee._

"For the last time miss Granger, are you going to just stand there and gawk? Or are you going to explain to me why you so rudely interrupted my sleep, to bring an unconscious Malfoy floating into my private chambers?"

Hermione actually had the decency to feel a bit embarrassed, if for no other reason then this must have been the first time in her history of a Hogwarts student, that she had to be asked such a simple question so many times before she gave her answer.

Deciding that the feeling of comfort Snape's chairs would give, would overcome the discomfort of just generally being in his room brought, Hermione finally sat down, leaning into the surprisingly snuggle worthy leather.

Taking a few moments to compose herself she ran over everything she remembered before trying to find the right words.

"Well Professor, I of course followed my instructions, and was waiting for Malfoy to return from his summon some time after midnight. As soon as I saw that Malfoy was back I rushed out to meet him at the school's entrance…Except that I found him all but curled into a ball and crying."

Hermione didn't miss the split second look of shock that came over the potions professors face before he covered it with his usual mask of calm. Glancing over at Malfoy quickly, Hermione continued her story. Her eyes still resting on the sleeping blonde, watching his chest rise and fall as he no doubt slept off the horrors of the night. _Whatever they were…_

"I-I didn't exactly know what was wrong, I assumed Cruciatus, like before…but this was different. He wasn't exhibiting any of the usual signs, he just seemed….distraught, horrible an inexplicably upset over something…he was afraid of me getting anywhere near me, he refused to let me help him, and told me to leave him several times…and-and when I asked him what it was that they had done to him…he said-" Hermione didn't know she had been rambling on until she stopped. Her voice felt oddly sore, and dry. Though her eyes were stinging with what Hermione was shocked to find were unshed tears. _Am I crying over Malfoy?_ Thinking back on the look on the boys face…the usually overconfident boy who thought most were beneath him…and connecting that to the ruin of a boy she had found outside…seemingly so scared he was left doing nothing but wallowing in his own misery…_What did he do to you Draco?_

"Miss Granger? If you may continue…what was it that he said?"

Hermione shook her head a minute before taking her eyes off of Draco.

"He said that-that its not what they did to him, but what they're going to do to me."

Hermione for a moment thought she felt an actual chill settle on the room…but she added it up to her imagination, the nights events were enough to put a chill on even the toughest people. _As was no doubt proven…_she thought, staring once more at the blonde.

"Miss Granger? I'm sure there is more to the story…or did Malfoy faint at that very moment?"

Shaking her head, Hermione forced herself once again to look away from the blonde.

"No, we argued for a bit, I tried to get him to come with me, to see you! But he wouldn't budge, too stubborn, or too scared, I don't know…So I stunned him, and brought him here."

To say Snape was mildly surprised by the story would be a very fair statement. But he was much more curious then surprised…he like Hermione, found it very strange that another encounter with the Dark lord, could bring such a pompous arse like Draco Malfoy, down to the level of a sobbing Hufflepuff. The idea made him frown.

"Professor? Do you have any idea what it could be that they did to him? If not the Cruciatus…."

"It is quite possible that Mr. Malfoy is just upset, the Dark Lord is not a nice person Miss Granger, and no doubt a meeting with him, especially under such circumstances, could leave even the most proud individuals irrevocably scarred."

"No!"

Hermione all but jumped out of her seat, surprising herself as much as Snape at her outburst.

"What! Miss -"

"This wasn't just some scare that made him like this, Voldemort did something to him! A spell of some sort!"

"Miss Granger calm yourself, you know little about the ways of the Dark Lord, and though I'm sure you have the utmost respect for Mr. Malfoy's mental capacities. From the evidence you have given, it is much more likely that he simply…cannot take the pressure."

Hermione was actually appalled by the tone her Potions professor was taking towards the boy. Used to him favoring Slytherins above all others, Hermione was more then confused by how easily the man dismissed Draco.

"Professor Snape? Are you even going to do anything to help him?!" Hermione at this point was standing on her feet, and looking quiet determinedly at the man before her. Who though for all the respects that Hermione had for him as a teacher, seemed to her to look like nothing more then a spiteful man who had too much to drink at the moment.

" He risked his life to go to that meeting tonight, and you're his mentor! Are you just going to send him to bed, and pass this all off as nothing more then a scare! What if its something else, what if its something that _you_ might not even know about!"

Hermione had she knew, long ago passed the point of no return when it came to being polite to her elders, especially her teachers. But the idea that Snape was just going to pass this off as something about as important as a common nightmare, it unnerved her, she couldn't allow that. She just didn't know why.

"Professor, please lets just wake him up, and you can get a full account of what happened! Then you can help us and-"

"Miss Granger, hold your tongue! It is quite late in the evening…I have listened to your tale, and have found it wanting. Yes you did the right thing in coming to me, no doubt you would of shocked Madam Pomfrey with this tale of yours, but I am not going to spend the next hour delving into the depths of the boys mind. It is best if you just retire to your dormitory for the evening, I will take Malfoy to his room, and in the morning, you may report to the Headmaster."

Hermione was about to shout something along the lines of "That's not good enough" when Snape sent a glare at her, that all but chilled her blood. His eyes shown an anger that she had never seen in him before, and for that moment, she actually did fear the man.

"Miss Granger, the time has come for you to leave-"

"You tricked us!" Hermione shrieked, her eyes lighting up in both fear and understanding. Snape only blinked before looking at her strangely.

"You-Your-Your still loyal to him! You aren't on our side at all! Your still a Death Eater, following you Masters orders! You've been working for him all along! All this time we've trusted you, and your nothing more then a two timing, back stabbing, turn-coat with absolutely no loyalty or honor in your sick twisted little bo-"

"SILENCE!" Snape's voice rose to a level that he was roaring, his eyes were lite up in a dark fire, that made Hermione actually step back a bit. Snatching the bottle off the table, Snape threw it against a far wall, where it shattered.

"HOW DARE YOU QUESTION ME! How dare you even think to judge me, you MISS GRANGER, have no idea at all of who I am or what I do."

"Oh I know-"

Snape's arm waved out, and Hermione felt herself hit with a silencing spell. _What?!_ She didn't even know he had his wand out.

"Be quite for once miss Granger, now I have put up with enough of your conclusions, and accusations. Leave my chambers now!" Raising his wand Snape directed at her, no doubt trying to hasten her leave. Hermione though was so shocked by his behavior, she could only stare at the wand, her eyes wide, she couldn't even feel her legs.

"Severus."

The word was spoken so calmly and silently, yet it rang through the room as if it were a church bell. Turn their heads, the both of them saw the Headmaster standing in the doorway, a look of concern on his face, as he looked at the two of them.

"Severus I believe it is time that I remove your alcohol supplies from now on…I always told you I would allow it had you never crossed any lines, but tonight I think you have gone too far.

"Headmaster, if I can explain-

"Explanation is not needed, I have been here for several minutes, and I noticed and am aware why you acted in such a way to Miss Granger's accusations. But I insist that if you plan on working for me, and living in this school, then that-" Here he pointed his wand at the cabinet on the other side of the room.

"-shall be gone." And with no noticeable flick of the wand, said cabinet disappeared.

Snape seemingly had little to say to this, as he only nodded, before sitting himself down in one of his chairs. He absently mindedly removed the silencing charm from Hermione, who proceeded to rub her throat with her hand, though she knew there was no reason to do so.

"Now, I believe that though the hour is late, that you Severus permit me to wake Mr. Malfoy up, so that we may finally get to the bottom of all this, where all accusations-" He looked down at Hermione, who couldn't find the strength to meet his gaze, instead staring once again at Malfoy resting on the couch.

"-and hostilities-" Looking at Snape, who was staring at the fireplace, seemingly lost in thought.

"-Will all be all put behind us, and understood." Here Dumbledore moved his wand, and pointed it at Draco. With a whispered word, Hermione watched as Draco seemed to take a shuttering breath, before slowly opening his eyes.

It took a few moments, but he seemed to wake up, eventually registering his surroundings, and not long after, the people in them. Hermione noticed that he looked quite tired, and worn. His eyes were a bit red, and his hair was in all kinds of disarray. She watched as he looked from Snape, to Dumbledore, no doubt confused as to what was going on. When his gaze turned to her though, Hermione saw that his eyes immediately filled with shock, and something Hermione thought might be pain.

Draco quickly sat up and tried to move away…crawling away on the couch to get as far away from her as possible. Mumbling to himself the whole time, it took Dumbledore a few tries before Draco finally spoke up so they could all hear him.

"It wasn't a dream…"

-----------------------------------

A/N: Hey Everyone! I'm sorry about the late post, but college, and work really take up alot of time. Along with other writing projects that I'm working on...needless to say, I felt that I was past due, in finishing my next Chapter. Anyways, I hope its up to standards, its been so long since I was working on Astrum, that I hope everything still seems to flow along, and its not too noticable that I haven't look at the story in over a month.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy it, and please Review! thats actually what gets me going...I happened to have gotten a review just recently, that put the motivation back into me. Keep it up, let me know what you think.

-Sises


	12. Explanations

"What exactly do you mean, was not a dream Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco blinked a few times before sitting in a more comfortable position. He looked up around at the two adults, and the room he was in. Draco rolled up his sleeve and before the three people in the room, he gazed down at the mark on his left forearm. Hermione felt herself gasp as she looked at it for the first time. Though she needed none, there in front of her was living proof of his initiation into the ranks of Lord Voldemort, the dark mark forever burned into his arm.

"All that happened, all that he told me-told me to do. None of it was a dream."

Hermione felt within her an small ounce of pity for the boy, it felt strange. Feeling anything for Malfoy other then hate and annoyance felt strange to her. But on this night, she felt a little bit different towards him, she didn't understand it. But she had trouble looking at this person in front of her, burdened with something he didn't even want, his very life at stake. She found it hard to hate him as he was at that very moment.

"Mr. Malfoy, we need you to tell us what happened, what happened at your meeting tonight. What did Voldemort say to you? What did he do to you?"

"He…He gave me another chance…one last chance to redeem myself and to prove my loyalty…"

Draco started talking then, he at first tried to look at everyone in the room, but it apparently became too hard for him to look anyone in the eye, and so his gaze stayed on the floor the entire time. But he never stopped, he barely stuttered, and rarely paused. His words were clear and easy to understand, but his tone was life less, monotone and too quiet to seem very real. To Hermione it sounded like he was reading off his History of Magic notes, just reading from a text book. But Hermione had never read nor heard of a textbook that had the horrors that his words inspired in her. The feel of his voice sent shivers down her spine, almost as if she herself was standing there with the Dark Lord.

Suddenly Draco paused, stopping at the moment when Voldemort was giving some sort of order. His voice cracked a few times as he tried to keep going, but eventually he just gave up and remained silent.

"Mr. Malfoy? Continue please."

Draco said nothing.

Snape let out an almost inaudible sigh.

"Mr. Malfoy I did not allow myself to be awaken at such an early time for you to just stop talking at this very moment. Tell us everything that happened."

Draco still, said nothing…his eyes remained focused on the floor. Hermione looking at him closer, almost thought she saw him shaking slightly, but when she blinked, he remained as still as a statue.

"Draco, Speak!"

"Severus…calm yourself. Young Malfoy here is under a great deal of stress, not many sixteen year olds could handle what he is going through as excellently as he is. Be patient." Dumbledore as calm as ever, soothed the angry fire that was Snape, his voice always full of understanding seemed to make everyone in the room a bit more a ease. Hermione only glanced at her two professors for a moment though, her eyes were then drawn back to the boy just a few feet in front of he. This boy, this Slytherin, who seemed to have changed so much in just the last few days. _Either that or I never really knew him in the first place…_

" Mr. Malfoy, I know it is difficult, but your role in the Order, is one of a spy. Please do not allow what trust we have in you to be in vain. I know that Voldemort is most intimidating, and that his threats are both horrifying and very possible. But you must not let his words get to you."

Dumbledore laid a hand on Draco's shoulders and smiled gently down on him. Hermione was shocked to see such a grandfatherly look in the Headmasters eyes. Though she had heard of the many talks and discussions Harry had with Dumbledore, and of the relationship between the two. She never expected that Dumbledore would show such kindness to a Death Eater, even if he was only a student.

"You must tell us what he wants you to do, so we can work with you Draco."

Draco's eyes finally shifted from the floor to look up, but he didn't look at the headmaster, or Hermione. His eyes were fixed directly on Snape. His eyes looked to Hermione like a sheet of ice, hard, cold, and uncaring.

"I won't say one more word with him in the room."

Dumbledore blinked a few times, and removed his hand from Draco's shoulder.

"Severus? Draco, Professor Snape is respected teacher at this school, he is your head of house and a member of -"

"He's the reason I was called on tonight in the first place!"

Draco mouth fixed a sneer in Snape's direction as he continued, his hands flexing as if begging to go for his wand, or wrap themselves around someone's neck.

"It was because of him that Voldemort knew what he did, it's because of him that I have to do my task or die, an impossible task. He's nothing more then a Death Eater, an animal, still loyal to the Dark Lord!"

Standing up in a fury, Snape reached inside his ropes and retrieved a vial of liquid. Slapping it down on the table, his eyes spewed fire at his favorite pupil.

"I am very disappointed in you Draco, that you would accuse me of such a thing. Yes I am a Death Eater, but I am a spy for the Order, just as you are. What I tell the Dark Lord is entirely due to Dumbledore's request."

Eyeing the bottle warily Hermione quickly tried to make eye contact with either Draco or the Headmaster, trying to get a glimpse of what was going to happen next.

"I don't care what you say to be true, you told him what he knew tonight! He still feels that you are loyal and I don't see why we should trust you at all!"

"Mr. Malfoy!"

"Make him leave, I won't say another word with this man in the room, I no longer like nor trust him."

All eyes turned to Snape at the moment, who was glaring down at the young Malfoy in front of him. For a moment no one so much as moved, no one seemed to dare breath as Professor Snape and Draco stared one another down.

"Severus…"

"Headmaster, you are asking me to vacate my own quarters to appease a _boy_ who too scared to so much as stand up to his own fath-"

"_Severus!_ please, for the moment…to help put Mr. Malfoy at ease, would you please step out of the room. For me."

"Headmaster…"

Snape said nothing for a few moments, before with a flourish he turned and quickly walked out of the room. Not to the dungeon corridors though, but to his bedroom. Hermione took a hesitant breath. The whole evening was becoming too much for her. For the second time she had found Draco Malfoy half dead from a visit with Voldemort, and now he of all people had turned against Professor Snape. Out of all the people to stop trusting the Potions Master, Hermione would of never expected it to be Malfoy.

"Now Mr. Malfoy would you be willing to tell us what happened to you this evening?"

"excuse me one moment Headmaster…but should I leave as well? I-I mean if Mal-Draco doesn't want his own head of house in on this conversation, then surely it would be best for me to leave as well?"

Dumbledore actually looked surprised that Hermione had voiced such an idea. As did Draco for a moment. For the first time this evening all eyes had actually turned to Hermione, who found it strange to be something more then a spectator this evening.

"I just thought that-"

"Miss Granger, I understand of course what you mean, but that is of course up to Mr. Malfoy here. Though in my personal opinion we should no have secrets among all of us here. It is of course not my right to say what shall be said in front of whom."

Dumbledore then turned to Draco and nodded his head. Draco though barely nodded back, his eyes still on Hermione. A look of curiosity and what she thought might be sadness on him.

"I-Granger. You can stay if you want…You've done so. I-…" Draco stopped for a moment, swallowed, and brought his eyes to rest on Hermione's.

"You need to stay for this…We may not be friends…but after all the help you've done to me, and after tonight…I-I cannot afford to call you my enemy any longer. I have information that you of all people need to hear, and. Well for us to remain hating one another would put the both of us in very real danger."

"What do you mean?"

"He, the Dark Lord didn't so much as tell me what he wants me to do, as he showed me. Like a vision in my head, he showed me exactly how he imaged it would play out…every last detail, I could see…and hear…"

Dumbledore mumbled something that neither of them could hear, then seemed to realized what he had just done. Nodding his head towards Draco his eyes were filled with a kind of sorrow and pain.

" _Minos pravala_ it is a technique I have heard of him using several times. In involves placing his own thought, almost day dream if you would allow me the expression in another's head. This allows him to literally tell a story and to issue orders that cannot be interpreted any other way. Voldemort has been known to use it both as a weapon and a tool on both his followers, and his enemies."

Hermione tried not to imagine what sort of horrible things Draco must of witnessed to shake him up so badly. Such horrors that were no doubt still running through his head.

"I take it Mr. Malfoy, that Voldemort implanted a most vivid and horrifying set of orders within your mind?"

Draco nodded before speaking. His eyes held a sort of vacant look to them, his hands started to clench and unclench as they rested by his side.

"Yes, he…showed me what he wanted me to do…and how he wanted me to…do it." Draco shuddered, not of cold Hermione knew, but of complete fear. And unknown to her, of disgust as well.

"What did he ask of you?"

"He wants me to befriend a student here, a muggleborn girl…one close to you…and Potter."

Almost as if a spell had hit her, Hermione felt her stomach drop, and her heart skip. _A muggleborn girl close to Harry? He, can't mean me can he?_

"Thanks to Snape…Voldemort knows of a connection to us, to the Order…he knows that I am a spy to you…and he wants me to prove myself to him, by…turning against you…and spying on you for him…a triple agent if you will."

"Mr. Malfoy the girl who he wants, are you referring to Miss -"

"He wants me to befriend her, and over the summer to meet with her family…I'm guessing he wants me to court her, or at least become friendly enough where me meeting her parents would be normal…he doesn't want her to suspect a thing…because…because."

"Draco?" Hermione hadn't even noticed that she had spoken, until she had found herself standing. Draco looked up from the floor, to look at her. His eyes were bloodshot, and though she would of never admitted it of fear from making _Him_ look weak, she knew they were filled with tears.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she felt something…some sort of connection. Her chest started to burn, but her hand stayed in place. Her eyes caught his and stayed there.

"He…he wants me to murder the girls parents…and her too…eventually…but before that, he…he wants me to break them…to torture…and and…he wants me to…do horrible…things to the three of them…before they die…to break their will…to break her will. Before I kill them in front of her, and then kill her."

"Mr. Malfoy? You do not have to continue, I believe I understand what is asked of you and-"

"Draco?"

"The Dark Lord wants me to torture, rape and kill you and your parent Granger."

_What?!_

Hermione felt something snap as she released her hand from Draco's shoulder. Stepping back she tripped over the couch behind her and half fell into it, half to the floor.

_He what?_

"He wants you…to kill? Rape me? _and my parents?!_"

"…Yes…to prove myself to him, and to destroy Potter's morale." Draco was at this point visibly shaking, his skin now looked sickly pale as was Hermione too to everyone's notice. She felt cold, and sick beyond anything she had ever felt.

"What kind of person, creature could dream up something so horrible, so unbelievable disgusting?"

"Hermione! Draco, listen to me…listen to my voice, and try not to think." Dumbledore's voice held an almost hypnotic command to it, both the teens turned to look at him.

"Mr. Malfoy you have no doubt been forced to witness horrifying acts, by the images Voldemort forced into your mind, and Miss Grange you yourself must be feeling quite afraid and alone. But you two need to concentrate on something else. This is part of what he does to people. He uses horrible acts to not only destroy lives, but will as well. The two of you are connected to one another. I know you two do not as of yet believe it, but part of what you two are feeling is coming from the other. Your fear is building on the others. You both need to calm yourselves." Hermione nodded to herself more then anyone. She slowed her breathing, and felt the panic that had taken hold of her a moment before lesson.

Draco too felt a bit better after calming himself down. His fear of anyone knowing what task had just been placed before him, and his disgust at the task itself had all but ruined him. For a moment he had felt like curling up into a ball and dying, just to end the pain. He focused on the Dumbledore for the moment, the tall old man, with his waist length beard, long flowing royal purple robes. Almost like an image of Merlin himself, the man inspired calm and peace in his very presence.

Hermione too directed her thoughts away from the terrifying picture Draco's orders had given, and instead focused on her parents…the feeling she got when she thought of them, the love and trust. The memories of a wonderful childhood that had ended so long ago. She thought of the future she wanted for herself, a career, a husband and a family, and how her parents would be a part of them, and she too felt herself calming down.

Dumbledore smiled down at the two of them, who moments ago had looked too afraid to move or speak, now resembled the strong students he had known these last six years.

"Now, that the two of you have calmed down it is time we need to start working on things. First off, Mr. Malfoy know that the plans for which the Dark Lord has asked you to do, will not happen. You mentioned this was going to be your test of loyalty? Then until the moment that he asks you to finish your task, you will continue to spy for us. He asks that you befriend Miss Granger, then do so. He wants you to visit her home sometime over the summer holidays? Then you shall do so as well. You will not be forced to harm either Miss Granger, or her parents. But until then you must play the part of a willing subject. We need the information you can give us."

Both Draco and Hermione nodded, their mind better focused on the matter at hand, on their role in the war yet to come.

"Now that brings us to our next subject, it is clear that both of you need to be trained in controlling your emotions. You Mr. Malfoy need to learn quick and fast the tools you will need to continuing working as our spy. This means advanced magic and tactics, as well as more control over your emotions and thoughts. Though you might not like it, Professor is my spymaster, and more then a able teacher to give you these things. He will not be your only teacher though, over the next few weeks, and into the beginning of the holidays you shall be meeting with other high ranking members of the Order, who will continue to train you in the skills you need."

"Are these acceptable?"

" Yes Sir." Dumbledore smiled at him after a brief nod.

"Good! Now Miss Granger, you have shown great skill over the years in your understanding of complex situations and problems, and recently you have shown a great understanding and skill in the area of med wizardry. I ask that you at once continue with your studies in private. At some moment in time I shall have Madam Pomphrey teach you more advanced healing and diagnosing spells. With your innate understanding, you may well become one of the most skilled med witches I have ever meet."

"Thank you Headmaster."

"Now, as to the question of the connection between the two of you, that is something I wish we shall begin working on starting immediately. Now I know the two of you are heavily burdened already with school work and extra curricular activities. Would you be able to sacrifice some of these things in order to find time for your new studies?"

Hermione and Draco both took a moment to think things over. Hermione was having trouble thinking of any extra curricular activities she even did, most of her time was spent just on normal classes.

"I would be willing headmaster." Draco said, his tone she noticed was finally back to the confident drawl it usually was.

"and I would be as well, if I could think of anything I have to drop headmaster."

Dumbledore smiled down at them both, before standing up and moving around the room.

"Good, Mr. Malfoy I am hereby removing you from the Slytherin Quidditch team, lets say that Miss Granger here caught you out of bed outside, and as your punishment you are removed from the team, and are to serve a detention everyday this week. In which you will be learning skills from Professor Snape." Turning to Hermione he smiled even deeper, his eyes twinkling at her.

"You miss Granger are going to be more difficult, I ask that you drop your prefect duties for the year, and take that time to study more into a few subjects that I shall give note to you shortly."

"Now, as to the bond between the two of you, I think that starting tomorrow night, at 10pm I would like the two of you to come to the room of requirement on the seventh floor, where I shall give you all the knowledge I can to help the two of you better strengthen and understand the bond. Do any of you have any questions?" Hermione only shook her head, her mind too busy going over all that had happened in the night. And of the things yet to come, her mind swam with images of text books and late night studying, of all kinds of knowledge she would be learning in the next few months…it was both staggering and exciting at the same time.

"I do Headmaster, for one, Why are you having Professor Snape teach me anything? I believe I have made it quite clear on my feelings toward him. It's because of him that all of this is happening, he's been loyal to Voldemort since day one!"

Dumbledore's eyes lost their merry twinkle for a moment as he regarded Draco with a somber expression.

"Mr. Malfoy I understand perfectly your hesitation in trusting Severus, it is the same I believe that Mr. Potter does not trust him. But I can assure both of you, that Voldemort destroyed all loyalty Professor Snape had for him some near sixteen years ago. Though you shall come to learn soon Mr. Malfoy that though it pains Severus to have his own Godson despise him so. It is exactly what he wants…Severus is my best spy for one reason alone, and that is because he does not trust anyone completely. And he will ask of you to do the same." Draco nodded to the headmaster with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"I do have one question sir, if I may ask?"

"You may."

"Are you completely sure that me and Granger are connected? Besides the tattoo's we don't seem to have anything else in our lives that would suggest such a close bond as you seem to think we have."

"Mister Malfoy that is something I intend to show to your tomorrow evening, but you have raised a very interesting inquiry. Miss Granger I am sure that you have some knowledge of magical tattoos. But I ask that you do some more research on the subject before we meet tomorrow evening, perhaps then we shall have some answers."

Dumbledore then pulled a watch from one of his many pockets.

"It is quite early in the morning, and if the two of you are finished, please run off to bed, and get as much sleep as you can. It had been a long night, and there are many things we have to get started on. I must thank you for having the courage to tell me your story tonight Draco, it has answered many questions I have had, and has rightfully hastened the progress I must now make. Now I ask of you, please get some sleep. And Good Night."

Hermione nodded once more, before glancing over at Draco, his eyes were already resting on hers however. He didn't say anything he just continued to look at her. Nodding to him as well, Hermione quickly turned and walked out of the room. She made it only a few meters around the corner when she felt her name being called, more then she heard it. Turning around she saw Draco still there, looking at her with that strange expression on his face as he had just seconds before in Snape's living room.

Walking back towards him Hermione felt something, something that made her believe Dumbledore's theory about their bond more then anything had before. She reached up and placed a hand on Draco's cheek, the act startled both of them for a moment.

"Thank you, thank you for telling us what was asked of you…You saved my life and the lives of my parents by doing that. It was very brave Draco"

He didn't answer her at first, he just stared. Hermione eventually lowered her hand and turned around. She made it about three steps before she felt his hand on her shoulder. She turned once more, and found herself staring at him again, at his eyes, the grey orbs that were always so locked tight against the world.

"I am not a monster, and I couldn't, wouldn't allow something so horrible to happen…I owe you my life Granger, so for that I have to keep you safe."

Hermione felt something snap again, but this time she thought she knew what it was. Her doubt. She quickly moved closer to the blonde boy, _no man…he's more of a man than any of those creatures that run around in black masks doing their masters bidding, this one went and came back, came back with a horrible duty he's going to deny, he came back to payback his debt to me, to protect me. Boy's don't do that, boys would of coward on their knee's._

"Thank you Draco."

Without thinking her actions through, Hermione reached up and pressed her lips against Draco's, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and deepened the kiss. She felt her tattoo start to burn pleasantly.

Not three rooms away Dumbledore stood watching the fire in Snape's Living room, his thoughts going through all the plans he had just made, and ones he had in the making for some time now. Turning around he saw Snape standing in the doorway of his own bedroom, his expression back to that of the cold calculating Potions master that brought fear into the hearts of all the first years. and hope to the old headmaster of the school.

"You placed the listening charm?"

"Of course Headmaster, the boy may rightfully doubt my loyalty, but he would be stupid to doubt my skills."

"Then now that you know everything as well, I think it is time for us all to get some sleep, there are many things that must be done within the coming weeks. We've stepped up Mr. Potter's training, and now it is time for theirs."

"You really do believe they are connected don't you Headmaster? And that this connection will bring them together? Make them stronger?"

"Yes Severus I do."

"Strong enough to protect them against the Dark Lord?"

"That I do not know, I do not think anything magic or muggle is strong enough to truly protect any of us against him. But it will give them more of a chance against him then they would have had alone, especially Mr. Malfoy."

"This isn't going to be like last time will it Headmaster?"

"No, that is for sure, he is moving faster, hitting harder. He is not using his trickery, and his deception like last time, he is acting much more brutal. I believe that he is now more truly insane then he was ever before…I think his rebirth robbed him of whatever was left of his humanity. I think that the war this time around, is going to be much more horrible indeed. But how worse I do not know, and for that I am afraid."

A/N: Well I'm glad to be back everyone! I know its been a very long time (Ten months since I've last updated) But I knew that I would eventually come back here. And well here it is, the chapter that has been giving me hell since I first started writing it. anyways, I hope that this chapter is pleasing to everyone. I plan on hopefully sticking with the story for the next few weeks while the Holidays are with us. Hope I haven't lost anyone, and that you will all enjoy and review, thank you. -Sises


	13. Research

The next day came way too late, and yet still very early to Draco. His night though long, was one he was having trouble getting to sleep after. No longer did Voldemort's vision swim within his head, but his own thoughts and memories were enough to keep him up. His mind kept racing back and forth over the conversation he had had just hours before, and of the ones over a day ago now. These life altering conversations that took him from a downtrodden beaten newly recruited Death Eater, to what it seems now was going to be the youngest spy for the Order of the Phoenix. It was all happening too fast for Draco, these new changes to plans he had known about since he was a child. Things had been so easy then when you saw things coming from years in advance. He would work his way through the school, eventually take his place at his fathers side as a loyal Death Eater, and bring honor and success to his family name. He did not expect his initiation to be so, brutal, so cold, dark and painful. He did not expect to be found by one Hermione Granger. _And Granger herself, she seems to have brought all of this one…ever since that night in the damn forest…my life's turned upside down._ No he did not expect to be caught on day one of his new life, not to mention to be nursed back to health by said witch. Then tricked into being a spy to save his own neck, only to hours later willingly give away information, to betray his new Master because of the now understand horror of the things he was expected to do. No it was all happening too fast…Draco never had to deal with such rapidly changing problems so fast.

_I'm in unknown territory now, I don't know where I'm going. I don't know where I am, or who even I can trust. Dumbledore for all his kindness and Merlin like appearance is the leader of what should be my enemy. And yet he shows much more compassion much more tolerance for failure than my Master…What am I supposed to do? My whole life was raised to follow the Dark Lord, to bring honor to my family name. To teach muggleborns, half blood, and blood traitors that wizarding blood should be pure and unblemished by muggles. Isn't that what the dark lord wants? Does he truly want to rule the world? Not just save it?_

The thoughts burned long and hard in Draco's mind for what felt like hours upon end. It wasn't until his eyes opened for the hundredth time that he decided sleep was a lost cause. Sitting up in his bed he stared around at his dorm room. Sitting deep in the dungeons, the room was nearly complete darkness, save for a fireplace built within the wall that showcased a few dying embers. It cast an eerie light upon the Slytherin green and silver wall hangings and bed rails through out the room.

Draco pushed his curtain over more and sat on the edge of his bed, not standing up just resting. His eyes were darting everywhere around the room at once, never finding a place to stay for long. Everything made him think too much, made him remember. Everything confused him.

Suddenly his head snapped up and his eyes fully awoke. He had come across a thought that he felt would solve all his problems. He felt it was both horrifically stupid, and yet still in a way understandable that he had never thought of it before. Surely it was the intelligent thing to do, and yet he had never been in his present situation before, he had never had any reason to doubt anything he had been told. Reaching down under his bed he removed a clean school uniform from his trunk. Silently he donned his uniform, cloak and shoes. Reaching for his wand on his bedside table, Draco and silently as he could walked out of the room.

He made his way quickly through the dark quiet of the Slytherin common rooms, through the cold dungeon of the school, and as quickly and quietly as he could through the upper floors of the school, until he reached his destination.

Taking his wand out of his pocket he whispered an enchantment as loud as he dared. Even the bare whisper he had used seemed loud to his ears the silence was so extreme. Out of his wand came a green smoke snaking its way through the air, they quickly arranged themselves in a circle and pair of lines. Draco studied the rudimentary clock for a moment before nodding to himself and moving forward. _5 am, more then enough time to find out what I'm looking for._ he moved the last few steps to the door, and slowly opened them, quickly stepping through the doors and shutting them behind him Draco walked into the Hogwarts library.

The library seemed totally different to Draco in the dead of night._Or is this technically early morning by now?_ It's great windows that usually held half the school grounds within them seemed dark as obsidian. Its many rows upon rows of bookshelves crept up from one shadowed side of the large room, down to another, disappearing in the dark. A huge library by most people standards, large enough to make finding one particular book nearly impossible in the day light even with reference cards and an obsessive librarian. An even more incredibly difficult one Draco thought lay before him, to try and find one book here in the dark, with no one to help him, and nearly no light. He dared not cast an illumination spell for fear Filch would catch him. Luckily enough for him he had a good idea where the book would be, so he was able to bypass nearly the entire library. This particular book would be in the history section which was on the left when you entered the library, partially hidden behind the head librarian's desk.

Making his way down there Draco tried to remember exactly where he had found the book, he had never actually read it before, as he had thought the information in the book would have been useless if no completely irrelevant. But now after many a life altering conversation and experience a the hand of Both Dumbledore and the Dark Lord, he realized that his perceptions of the world might very well be much more ignorant then he would of hoped.

Moving deeper into the history section, Draco realized his particular book must be near the end of the section, just bordering on the Restricted side. It was with this thought that Draco remembered where it was, it was near the restricted side, just near it in fact. Draco had remembered just last week seeing the book, while searching for some information on his latest History of Magic paper, (Draco was one of the few people who chose to take History of Magic after their OWL's) and while absentmindedly walking through the aisle he had bumped into the gate that barred access to the restricted section, and after glancing back at the aisle his eyes had came to rest on one book, displayed cover first its title in silver letter plain as day before him. The very same book Draco was looking at now. _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts._

Reaching for the book with no small amount of trepidation Draco quickly snatched the book from the shelf as if he thought a slower movement would of cost him his resolve. Not one to ever be afraid of something as silly as a book, much less what might be contained within the book. Draco took a deep breath and reassured himself that this was something he needs to do, something that should not affect his opinion or belief in any way. And yet as Draco scanned the index to the page number he wanted, something told him that had he read this book some years ago, he might of very well been someone completely different then he was today.

His fingers brushed past the pages as the finally came to the book, and its index. He looked for the last few chapters, covering nearly an entire century. Its content title was clear even in the extreme lack of light in the library.

_Dark Lord's of the Twentieth Century:_

_1925-1945 Gellert Grindelwald pg 453-576_

_1965-1981 Lord Voldemort pg 478-495_

Draco quickly flipped through the book to the very last chapter in the tome. He quickly cast a low light spell to give himself just a little bit more reading light, but hopefully not enough to escape the library and alert anyone else that he was here. The last thing he needed was some one finding him reading up on dark wizards in the dead of night.

Draco looked down to the several long paragraphs of the one person he had spent more of his life hearing about then bloody Harry Potter. Draco looked at the words and he began to read.

_Lord Voldemort, more commonly referred to in the general public as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who was a remarkably talented though vicious wizard that took up power in the last half of the twentieth century. He began his roots in the famed Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as the orphaned boy known only as Tom Riddle…_

Draco read the passages for what felt like hours, every once in a while his vision would zone out as he tried to image what the book was telling him, about the first war, the one that ended just months before he was born. He had heard about the glories of it from his father, about the pride the Dark Lord had began brining to the Wizarding world…But this, what Draco was reading, the accounts in this common school history book, told a different story.

_The public did not become well aware of the Dark Lords existence until the mid seventies when a double attack in public in broad daylight had taken place. It was reported that in the early afternoon in Diagon Alley in early winter of 1971 a stray spell had been cast into a crowd of people, striking one of them down. The man was Danath Bridgeletter assistant to the Minister for Magic. He had been hit with the Avada Kedavra curse, the wizard responsible had quickly ran out of the shopping district, but not before casting the very first image of the Dark Mark into the sky. Never before had an attack been so public, and so outspoken. _

_Lord Voldemort had made his first public move against the Ministry. For too long they had been trying to hide his involvement in the random murders and disappearances that had been going on for the last year. Forced into action the Ministry had made a public announcement that the wizarding world was now at war with one that called himself Lord Voldemort. The second declaration of war took place just after the annoucement when a member of the crowd shouted that "No one had the privilege to speak the Dark Lords name" he then cast Avada Kedavra, striking the announcer David Copith another ministry official, he too escaped. But his message did not, the wizarding world was indeed at war, but one that it had never seen the likes of…_

Dawn came much quicker to Hermione then it did for Draco, she had once returning to her common room fallen fast asleep, barely waking when her alarm had gone off. Like most mornings she got up a full two hours before nearly everyone else in her house. She showered and dressed and prepared her school things, quickly checking her watch, she made her way down to the common room to grab a chair by the still smoldering fire. In her book was one of the many books she had acquired over the years. This one ironically enough was just the book she had needed after the conversation with Dumbledore last evening._Wizarding Ink._ It was a relatively new book written by a popular muggleborn witch that Hermione had found herself becoming quite enthralled with. The book was about all sorts of Wizard art forms in comparison to muggle ones, in particular were its sections on paintings, and body art, particularly tattoo's.

Hermione scanned down a few paragraphs reading little sentences here and there, interesting information in its own right, but nothing that Hermione wanted. She had just after waking up remembered some of the books in her personal collection might have some information on the strange incident that took place in the forest. But so far she had read nothing about Tattoos connecting people, though she knew it was possible. _Voldemort was able to form a connection between himself and the dark mark he burns into his followers, yet nothing in this book speaks of it at all._ She could find no explanation either for the sudden appearance of the mark either, all permanent tattoo's either muggle or wizard seemed to be made in nearly the same way, with large amounts of concentration, time, effort, and control of the one making the design on the other. Tattooing oneself was rare, even in the wizardingworld, and it seemed such a design coming out of nowhere was impossible, if at least unheard of.

Hermione closed the book and placed in down for a moment, her mind was working, trying to figure out the next best plan of action. It was still some time before breakfast and therefore before either Harry or Ron woke up. _And still even more time before classes start…_Hermione realized that if she wanted to get a few answers before classes started today (and being Hermione Granger, she always wanted answers before class.) her instincts were telling her to go to the library.

Quickly running back up to the girls dormitories she placed her book back with her others, before grabbing her school bag and other necessities. If her excessive time in the library had taught her anything, it was that time could fly away while doing research, leaving no time to run to get school things before classes were about to start. Running back down the stairs Hermione quickly made her way out of the Gryffindor common room and out into the halls, making her way along a path she had memorized by her second week at Hogwarts in her very first year.

The Library was to Hermione a place of, information, peace, and above all order. Unlike most other places within Hogwarts the library ran by a set of rules that Hermione knew quite well, rules she had known perfectly fine since before she had even come to Hogwarts. It was part of the reason she loved the library so much, her first few weeks of school had been horribly lonely. An twelve year old girl in such a strange frightening yet exciting place, she had found her solace in the library, a place not only full of all the knowledge she had thought she would ever need for school, but a place that reminded her more of her home, of her muggle life.

Opening the doors to such a beloved place Hermione quickly decided on a course of action. She knew she had limited time for research, and that she had many more questions then she would possibly be able to find books relating too. She quickly organized her thoughts into order and decided that with her limited time she would best be suited to try and get only one question answered. The only problem now was which one did she most want an answer too?

_Whats going on with me and Draco?_

The thought came unbidden to her mind, and yet it made perfect sense once she had thought it. The main question on her mind was what was going on between her and the blonde haired Slytherin who was supposed to hate the very ground she walked on, and her him. And yet, now they seemed to be connected by something extraordinary even by wizarding standards.

_What exactly is it about our connection I want answered?_

Again the thought came almost as soon as she had questioned it. Like her subconscious had decided to be kind to her today, she grabbed the first thought her head had come up with and held it tight.

_Compar Pectus…the whole meaning behind this, the mark on us, Dumbledore's belief in our bond, some prophecy that may or may not talk about us united the magical and non-magical worlds together._

Though the subject was a vague one. Hermione actually had a very good idea of where she would go to find such an answer. Normally in a wizarding library one was forced to search for materials by hand. Trying to sort their questions into basic subjects, and hoping that a book in such a section showed some relevance to their problem. Hermione felt rather pleased that she had discovered the subject matter of her particular problem so quickly. When the thought had first hit, she almost felt like it would be impossible to find a book on the subject among the thousands of books in the library. But after further reflection she realized she knew where it was most likely to be, there would be no other practical place for it.

Making her way down the aisle towards the right of the room, she stopped midway into what was known as the most advanced problematic sections of the library. And for such reasons it was probably one of Hermione's favorite when it came to a bit of light reading.

Magical Philosophy

Practical Theory

&

Experimentation

Here were subjects that had no definite answers, subjects that very rarely pertained to projects students might undergo in their schooling at Hogwarts. Unless of course you were planning on taking NEWT level Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, or Arithmancy; which Hermione was, along with Defense Against The Dark Arts, and possibly even a few bits of Medi Wizardry she thought.

Moving through the section Hermione had to all but physically restrain herself from grabbing at some of the more interesting titles. Until she moved further down the line into the branch dedicated to experimental magic. Here was a section Hermione had spent little of her time in, she was more interested in practical theories of magic, not necessarily in actually experimenting on such theories. Looking for a specific part of the section Hermione's mind went over what she knew of her questions and how exactly she had known where she would be most likely to find it in such a section.

It was back at the end of her fifth year at Hogwarts, when she Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna had raced to the Ministry of Magic to stop Sirius from being killed by Lord Voldemort. It was there, while running from Death Eaters that Hermione had noticed what the Department of Mysteries seemed to be all about. She had noticed several days after the event, that none of the rooms had offices, they were more like laboratories and museums, storing information and artifacts. It was then Hermione realized that the Department of Mysteries must be where the Ministry does all its most secret forms of magical experimentation, to help uncover all kinds of secretes. The very fabric of magic itself. Hermione had while running from the death eaters, ran once more into the room that the group had before tried to unlock both with spells and once with Harries magical knife. Hermione hadn't seen it then, but the door had been label with a small symbol just above the door knob. The symbol was how Ministry members must know which room leads to what section. It had taken more then a few nights rests and a bit of sudden epiphany for her to realize what the symbol had been.

Something so small more of a random notch then anything noticeable. But it had finally hit her when she was going over some old text books, and had run across an ancient runes tome. Ancient Runes had always been an interesting class for her, but she had been forced to drop it when selecting her NEWT level classes. Though fun it was very work intensive and out of all her classes it sadly held the least amount of post Hogwarts career related skills. The mark on the door, and Hermione suspected on other doors, were ancient runes, depicting to those who knew and understood them what each room held. The small arrow looking rune was called Kenaz and was known as the torch, it among other things was said to have some small meaning to attachment and attraction, in other words love. Hermione had noticed after looking through her old textbook that there was a rune noted to pertain to love between two people, at least in certain situations. And it was this reason Hermione realized now why such a rune was present at the Ministry.

_And why I think I know exactly what book I need…_

Reaching the end of the section, Hermione looked over nearly every title there until she came across a title she knew should hold the information she would need. If there was any information to be found. Grabbing the thick book by its spine she pulled it off the shelf and cradled it in her arms. It was dusty and rather large even by Hogwarts library standards, she figured it must be nearing a thousand pages. _Hopefully it has several subjects within it. I can't image how this entire book could all be related to what's going on…_

She quickly blew some of the dust off the cover revealing the title_Kenaz Studies, _and began to pursue the books contents…

She barely had her search of the large book narrowed down to a few specific chapters when she heard a rather loud rustling within the library. Knowing that it was still rather early morning, there shouldn't be too many people up and about at the time. Hermione tucked the large book under one arm and made her way out of the aisle. The sound happened again, sounding eerily similar to that of someone knocking over a few books, this time though it was followed by a few whispered words. Now knowing someone else was in the library so early in the morning, Hermione decided it was best to leave. Though not breaking any rules no matter how one chose to rethink the situation, Hermione was never one who enjoyed people peeking in on her studies. Especially when they were of a more personal nature.

Quickly moving her way towards the library's exit, she could help but look back over her shoulder to see if the person making the noise was anywhere near visible from the main library floor. They were.

As Hermione finally came upon the door, she noticed none other then Draco Malfoy himself half stumble out from behind a few shelves, his arms loaded with some near six different books it looked like. He seemed to be stumbling more from exhaustion then clumsiness if his haggard appearance and sluggish expression meant anything. Trying to squash her curiosity Hermione quickly exited the library before he noticed her, and then made her way as quickly back to the Gryffindor common room as she could. The entire time her mind kept showing her the image of Malfoy coming out of the library, back his own little research moment She couldn't find an answer to why the scene seemed anywhere near important, but for some reason she just couldn't shake it. _Why was he there so early? He was there before I was? And why was he coming out of the defense against the dark arts section?_

Hermione tried not to dwell on the thoughts anymore. Her body was finally starting to wake up and realize that it was morning, and that it was hungry. Hermione checked her watch again, and realized that breakfast would be starting soon, Harry and Ron would be slowly but surely opening their eyes and sluggishly making their way out of their beds. And then classes would start, another normal day at Hogwarts. _Funny…_Hermione thought._ Its felt like so long since I had an actual normal day…_

Not more then an hour and a half later, most students were down in the great hall enjoying one of many Hogwarts breakfasts. The Golden trio was of course not the exception to the case, as they were sitting happily at their spot on the Gryffindor table, plates piled high with all different sorts of food. Hermione was quickly working her way through her breakfast while mentally going over some of the few notes she was able to take from _Kenaz Studies_. So far she hadn't been able to find anything truly world shattering, except that magical studies into the very nature and fabric of love had been going on for centuries. Documentation of the most mundane to the most note worthy events regarding the subject had been written down, and categorized. Hermione had barely made her way through the hard facts of the studies, down to the theories (what she had been looking for) when she had been all but dragged to breakfast by her two best friends.

"Harry all I'm saying is that just because the Cuddly Cannon's are supposedly the underdog of the world cup, doesn't mean they aren't one of the best. Really I think they've been using such an idea as a tactic, to make all the other teams think they don't know what their doing. All the more enjoyable for them to steal the cup right out from under another teams nose!"

Hermione barely heard Harry snort a reply into his goblet of pumpkin juice.

"So your saying the Cannons have been loosing on purpose? As part of their brilliant tactic eh?"

"Well I-"

"I just think they need to get some new colors, I mean bright orange? Where did they come up with that? Is that supposed to be their cuddly look?" Shamus had of course chose to offer his own advice once he had gotten around to finishing off a few mouthfuls of oatmeal. Harry patted Shamus gratefully on the shoulder as the two of them started to go off on the Cannon's woeful color scheme and overall skill on the Quidditch field. Hermione was barely paying attention to the conversation that was literally going over her head, her mind still several floors up, in her common room on her recent notes.

It wasn't until the arrival of the morning post that any members of the trio so much as looked up from their previous priorities.

The normal flurry of owl madness was something most students got used too after the first month of school. But for the Trio it was always something to pay attention too, as one of the three was always getting something or other. Hermione the morning post every now and again, usually giving very bad news for either wizard or muggle kind. Ron some embarrassing note from his parents talking about prefect this, and good marks that. Harry some rather large pieces of chocolate and other assorted food stuffs from Ron's mum, because she was worried about him eating.

It was with a rather genuine surprise though that not one, but all three students received mail that day, and none of them were expected, nor from someone they could identify at all. All three bird that landed were a rather plain color and species. The most ordinary looking owls Hermione had ever seen she thought. But all of them held out a small note to the three of them, not within a envelope, but rolled and bound with a purple string.

Hermione was the first to pluck the note from the offered leg, and without waiting for so much as payment or a sausage disguised as a thank you. The owl, his job done had flown away with little fanfare. Both Harry and Ron's owls did the same when they had removed their mail.

Hermione unwrapped the small parchment and looked at its small writing. Nothing out of the ordinary really, it was a rather small note with little to any to say. To Hermione it spoke volumes, and held instant meaning. Ron and Harry seemed to hold a similar expression, as once all three of them had read their parchment, they all incinerated them with their wands. None of them had noticed the other doing the same until afterwards, where it seemed there was an unspoken agreement that no member of the three would ask or even mention the note any of the other two had. With barely a nod in the direction of the other's all three sixth year Gryffindor's returned to their breakfast. Shamus was the only one who noticed something strange, but he decided not to say anything after looking at the three of them for a moment.

Breakfast continued on like ever before, but now Hermione found herself unable to remember exactly what it was she had been thinking about before the morning's post had arrived. Her mind was not stuck on the note, and of the things about to take place later in the evening.

_Miss Granger,_

_There is going to be an meeting of the Order at 8pm in my office, something new has come up that must be shared with you and others. I feel it is time the newest generation should meet one another. Please come to my office, on time tonight._

_The password is licorice wands._

_Please dispose of this note in a proper manner befitting its nature._

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_ A/N: ok everyone here's the next chapter, just in time for finals eh? well I hope you guys all enjoy, I'll try to keep a semi regular post up as I finish each chapter. Please review and let me know what you think. As of this chapter Astrum is now over one hundred pages long, and has over 100 people who are alerted when its updated._

_ come on people, give me some love! _

_ -Sises _


	14. Confrontation

Classes seemed to go by very slowly for Hermione, as she waited for the day to end, for Dumbledore's arranged meeting to take place, and whatever plans the man might have. _quite ironic_ she thought to herself, that classes couldn't be over soon enough for one Hermione Granger when classes were usually her favorite part of the day. Today though to her, classes paled in comparison to what she most likely will be learning some several hours later in Dumbledore's office.

She tried to pay as much rapt attention to Professor Flitwick as she could during her charms period, but not only was the subject matter quite boring (it was all about learning to do previously easy spells like Lumos, Wingardium Leviosa, and Accio silently.) her mind was running rampant with images and idea's of what might happen later on.

She rightly assumed that both Harry and Ron had gotten very similar letters, and that even Draco might have gotten himself a letter as well. She now realized that she hadn't even so much as checked over at his table to see. _Some job I am as a guard, not even checking to see if my person received any mail._ Hermione started to tap her quill on her desk as the hours drug on by.

Lunch eventually came to Hermione, who found her nerves had started to escalate as half her day was already finished. She wasn't hungry, so after grabbing the slightest few bits of food she gave a quick excuse to Harry and Ron, before making her way out of the great hall, quickly catching Draco's eyes before leaving. Hermione walked just a few corridors down from the great hall, her shoes making sharp loud tapping sounds on the hard floor, Hermione barely noticed her own impatience, as she silently counted the number and rhythm to her steps. Stopping at an intersection she sat up against the wall and waited, knowing that it shouldn't take long. _Even that boy shouldn't be able to miss the look I gave him._

Not even a minute later Hermione heard someone else coming up the hallway, ducking around the corner Hermione waiting for the person to pass before she so much as moved. As she suspected Draco was the one to come around, his black robes swishing around him as he walked, looking even to Hermione like he knew exactly what he was doing and where he was going. _How exactly does he manage to look to sure of himself, when he obviously has no idea what's going on?_ _I'll have to ask him that sometime…_

"Draco." Such a simple word, but the suddenness of it echoed through the halls, almost making Hermione herself jump in fright. Draco though only stopped, and smoothly turned around, his robes flowing back behind him, in an oddly elegant fashion that Hermione was sure one had to practice to achieve.

" What exactly do you want Granger? I was trying to enjoy my lunch, the sandwiches were particularly good today." Hermione tried not to noticed how she had started to find his little drawl somewhat amusing.

"I needed to talk to you, there are a few questions I have."

"Well then spit it out, what is it you want?" Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, apparently he wasn't in a very helpful mood today.

"Did you receive a letter this morning?"

"What does it matter if I did?"

"You mean besides the fact that I'm your guard until further notice? Nothing really, maybe I'm just interested." Hermione raised an eyebrow at the boy, trying not to crack a smile at him as she did. _What are you doing Hermione, this is a bit much for just casual conversation…no matter what the book said…_

"Alright Granger, so maybe I did receive a letter today, is your curiosity satisfied?"

"Was it a normal letter from someone you know? Or a rolled scroll bound in purple string?"

"Both?" Draco shrugged.

"I actually happened to know the person who sent the bound scroll in purple string, seeing how its our headmaster and all."

"So you did receive a note to meet tonight from the Order."

"Yes."

Hermione flung her arms down to her sides, her nearly amused smile turned quickly into a frown.

"Then why didn't you just say you received a letter from the Order!"

"Why didn't you just ask if I received a letter from the Order?"

"Because I assumed you would of elaborated on what type of letter you received when I asked you!"

"Well that just proves that you shouldn't assume anything with me Granger, you act like you know me much more than you actually do."

Hermione actually felt like her jaw was going to fall in disbelief.

"Why do you have to make things so difficult Malfoy?!"

"Oh so its back to Malfoy now is it? I thought we were on better terms then that?"

"Answer the question!"

"No."

This time Hermione's jaw actually did drop in frustration, his simple quiet answer nearly stopped the words in her mouth from sheer disbelief. Hermione walked up to him and poked him in the chest with one finger, her eyes narrowed as her voice lowered to a near whisper.

"What do you mean "No" ?"

Hermione noticed a gleam in Draco's eyes as he actually broke out in a smirk.

"Well Granger, I believe No is a answer commonly given, when one wants to answer in the negative. Would you like me to use it in a sentence? Like No Granger, I will not answer that question? Or how about No Granger you don't know me that well, or wait there's this No Granger I don't think you look good in that dress."

"Will you shut up already, and stop being such a pest? Why do you enjoy being such an arse anyways?"

Draco lowered his head down to hers and slowly whispered into her ear, Hermione tried not to react to the shivers that went down her back at the feeling of his warm breath on her neck.

"Because it is always fun to see you upset."

Draco quickly moved away before turning around and walking in the opposite direction, leaving Hermione there feeling like he had hit her with a dose of _Petrificus Totalus_.

"Draco Malfoy you are unbelievable!" Hermione hadn't even noticed she had shouted, her mouth just saying the first thing that came to mind. But even so, it still had her desired effect of stopping Draco in his tracks. Hermione amused or not, was not about to let the snaky little git away with the last word.

"Well see there Granger, that's what I meant, you do not know me, as well as you think you do." Draco then started to slowly turn around again.

"Is that a fact? I think I know more then most."

Draco stopped.

"Oh? And what exactly do you think you know about me Granger?"

"Well, how about your birthday?"

Draco turned to look at her, now his face was the one that showed something akin to disbelief.

"What are you babbling about Granger? Why would you know my birthday?"

"June 5th, 1980. Found out when I had to heal your arse from the cruciatus, one of the spells I cast on you to check your vitals told me exactly how old you were."

Draco blinked.

"So you know my birthday, I hardly think that means-"

"I also know you have quite the striking tattoo on your chest, that you have little to no body hair on your chest or arms, and that you happen to enjoy wearing silk boxers. Usually black, but I'm guessing green is a favorite of yours as well."

Hermione now felt a smirk of her own come on, when she realized she had struck the boy speechless.

" Of course you know nearly the same information about my own tattoo, but lets not forget that I know you are not nearly as horrible or jaded as you make yourself out to be, that you do in fact have a heart, and that you are no evil. No matter what Harry or Ron think about you."

Draco's mouth bobbed open for a moment, before he closed it. Now Hermione couldn't even lie to herself how fun it felt to make the prince of Slytherin speechless. _Oh this is way too much fun…I wonder…_

Walking up to him, Hermione thought that a taste of his own medicine would be more then quality payback for his lack of ability to be nice all the time. Moving up towards him Hermione rose up on her feet to whisper directly into his ear.

"I also know that you dream about me at night Draco, that you wake up sweaty and hot from dreaming about doing the most wicked things to my body, that you sometimes wake up with my name on your lips, and that no matter what you may say to yourself, you've never had a dream nearly as good as me."

Hermione quickly turned around and slowly walked away, a shrill giggle was all but bursting out of her, but she knew to win this round she couldn't show any sign of how much fun it had been. If there was one thing she learned from him, it was that control one more battles then one would think.

Hermione though didn't get far before she felt him catch up to her, turning around she was quickly surprised to find herself all but thrown up against the nearest wall, pinned between hard stone and Draco Malfoy. His arms were on her waist, strong but not bruising, just keeping her in place. His face though was right over hers so close his nose touched hers every so often.

Hermione now felt a different kind of speechless coming on, this one from the knowledge that she was very much in unknown territory, she didn't even know exactly what direction she wanted to take this. Luckily for her Draco spoke first.

"Would you like to repeat that Granger?"

Hermione bit down on her lip to stop herself from smiling, but his warm breath right on her face, smelling like some mix of mint and chocolate made her mind go blank for some reason.

"Uh which part exactly? The one about your tattoo? Or how about the part where you did wicked things to my bo-" Hermione's sentence was broken when Draco suddenly leaned down and kissed her on the lips. Hermione felt numb from the legs down, but her lips felt like electricity. Grabbing on to his robes for support Hermione pressed back against him with her own mouth, wanting to feel more of whatever it was that she was feeling.

_Oh my god, I didn't even think something like this would happen…well ok not really, maybe I was a bit heavy on the flirting with the eye brows and the whole whispering in his ear but, Oh! Is his hand rubbing circles into my waist? I- oh wow…ok that's… now its under my shirt and touching the skin of my sides I…._

Hermione mind was running faster then she could even keep up, taking her hands off Draco's robes she moved them slowly up his chest to his hair, where against whatever judgment she had left, proceeded to bury them down to his scalp.

Their kissing went on for another few seconds before Draco broke it, sensing that whatever had just happened was about to pass Hermione braced herself for the awkwardness that would occur. Instead though Draco then proceeded to kiss her jaw line, then her cheek, before moving on to her earlobe and with the slightest nibble that sent a noticeable shiver down Hermione's body, he then proceeded to move down to her neck and continue his work from there.

Hermione never had a chance to speak. Which made her very happy.

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The sixth year Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's advanced Transfiguration classroom was always one of quiet lecture, and concentrated practice. Being the first class directly after lunch, Minerva McGonagall was confident that with their stomachs full, the students wanting to move on to NEWT level Transfiguration were responsible and mature enough to work diligently without her having to directly enforce the proper level of classroom respect.

That was until the door quietly slipped open a half hour into class, interrupting Professor McGonagall's lecture on the difficulty of Animagus transformation. As quietly as she could with the entire class watching her every move, and her favorite professor looking on with the most surprised look she had ever received, Hermione moved through the room to find her obviously empty seat right in the front row, in between Harry and Ron.

The whispers in the room were like a hive of bees. Every student, even the most diligent and hard working had stopped taking notes to stare at McGonagall's favorite student who actually came in extremely late to class, history seemed to be in the making.

Hermione chose to ignore the stares and whispers, instead taking out her rolls of parchment, quills, ink bottles, and her very used copy of sixth year advanced Transfiguration. Harry and Ron seemed to be just as shocked if not more by the sight of Hermione being late to her favorite class, which seeing how it was after lunch, was almost impossible to have a good excuse to be so much as a minute late too. Luckily Hermione had taught them well, and they chose to hound her with all their questions after class. Where they would have the time.

"Miss Granger? I- well I am quiet surprised, I don't think you've ever been late to my class in all your years of being my student…I- Well I assume you have an excellent excuse not to mention a note signed by a professor?"

Hermione just shook her head silently.

"I'm sorry Miss Granger, what was that?" McGonagall still had a look of stunned disbelief on her face.

"I'm sorry Professor, but I don't have a signed note with me."

The whispers became noticeably louder,

"Quiet down class, now then Miss Granger, I'm just so surprised, but what were you doing that made you so late?" Everyone could tell that the Professor wasn't used to having to be disapproving with Hermione, and didn't know how to proceed.

"Nothing important Professor." Hermione wished she could just die right now, not only was she late to class thanks to Malfoy, and whatever it was that had just happened, but she was late to McGonagall's class, her favorite class, and the one that would be the most impossible to get away with without giving something of an excuse. _But what the hell am I gona say? Sorry professor, but my afternoon snog with Malfoy ran a little overtime, won't happen again I promise._

"Nothing important? But you were late- I…well never mind, lets return to class shall we?" McGonagall took a moment to steady herself as the whispers died down around the room. Hermione couldn't believe that she had gotten away with it without so much as having to explain about where she had been. Hermione couldn't believe her luck, in the one time she was late she got off completely free. And with class still an hour and a half left, she had time to formulate some type of idea of what she was going to tell Harry and Ron.

"Now class lets continue where we left off…" McGonagall paused once more, her eyes lingering once more on Hermione, and the multiple stares directed her way.

"Oh and miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for being late to me class…now where was I?"

Hermione sighed before quickly took out a quill and dipped it into her ink. _Five points is better than explaining where I've been at least.._ Just as she was about to begin her notes, she heard Harry yawn beside her, his arm stretching into her vision. When it retracted, she noticed that there was the smallest piece of torn parchment on top of her desk, on it was a small scratch of a note.

"_Nice love bite on your neck."_

Hermione merely smiled to herself, her cheeks turning a lightest color of pink as she calmly brushed the note off her desk before beginning her own notes finally. _Damn you Draco…_

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The day eventually came around to 5 o'clock pm, classes were finally over, and dinner was about to begin, and the meeting with Dumbledore was just a few more hours away. Hermione sat at her usual spot mid way down the Gryffindor table, with Ron and Harry sitting next to one another across from her. Barely tasting the meal in front of her Hermione quickly glanced up at the head table to notice that the Headmaster was still eating his meal, conversing with either Professors McGonagall or Snape.

Hermione sighed, noticeably enough that both Harry and Ron glanced up from their own meals. Harry with a look of curiosity on his face as he held a fork full of food halfway to his mouth, and Ron with his mouth stuffed full of food as always.

"Smurffen grong mironon?"

Hermione blinked a few times before she looked at him, actually trying to tell if what Ron said could be described as language.

"I-um what?"

Harry laughed briefly before taking up the job as translator.

"I think he meant to say "Is something wrong Hermione?"" Ron nodded enthusiastically as he struggled to swallow the large amount of food in his mouth.

Hermione shook her head, then paused before nodding.

"Well ok, I wasn't going to say anything, because neither of you too mentioned it. But I'm really curious what the letter was about."

Harry and Ron both glanced around the table before leaning towards her, voices low.

"Actually we've been wondering the same thing." Harry whispered. "We think it has to be something important, something that wasn't posted in the Prophet. Why else would he call all three of us to his office so suddenly?"

"Do you think someone's died? Or that headquarters has been compromised or something?" Ron asked, a curious and fearful look on his face. "Or maybe Snape's found something out from you know who? Something big maybe?"

Hermione glanced away from the two of them, her eye sight glazing over towards the Slytherin table before coming back to the two of them.

"Maybe, I guess we don't know until we get there." she said. Harry and Ron nodded, while Harry opened his mouth once again. Suddenly another head came into their little over the table huddle, Seamus bursting through with a large grin on his face. His voice much to loud for the distance he was from them.

"Oi! What are you three whispering about now?"

The three of them moved back to sit in their seats properly, all of them thinking about a proper excuse. It was Harry who recovered first, not even taking his eyes off the Seamus he quickly replied.

"We were just wondering what Hermione was doing that made her late to Transfiguration this morning!" Ron and Hermione both looked at Harry, Ron with a look of wonder, Hermione slightly nervous. Seamus looked over at Hermione and gave a low whistle.

"Know it all Granger was late to her favorite class? Wish I would have been there to see that…but Transfiguration never was my strong suit…" Seamus moved back to his usual seat next to Dean three seats down.

Hermione did her best to act like Seamus had never interrupted their conversation, and was just about to steer the conversation back to Voldemort, when Harry and Ron looked at her.

"What exactly were you doing that made you late Hermione?" Ron asked, his voice full of surprise.

Hermione was about to give her usual excuse of "I was in the library of course!" when Harry cut her off before she could even get a word out.

"And where exactly did you get that mark on your neck Hermione? Looks like a Hickey to me…"

Ron who had been in the middle of drinking some pumpkin juice, ended up spitting it all out of his mouth, across the table and right in the face of a third year Gryffindor girl.

Hermione grimaced to herself, hoping that dinner would end soon, and that the meeting with Dumbledore would come already.

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Draco tried his best to hide whatever nervousness he felt as he made his way to the Headmasters office. He had spent most of the day wondering what it was that the Headmaster might want to speak with him about. Knowing it must have something to do with the Order, Draco wondered if it was good or bad news. He also wondering if Hermione had been summoned as well, she hadn't said so exactly, but something about the way she seemed to know he had a letter made him think she might of gotten one as well.

Draco's mind returned to that scene just hours before where he was snogging Granger up against a wall for all she was worth. It must have been the hundredth time he had caught himself thinking about it, and he still wasn't entirely sure what to think about it…He could at least admit to himself that it was a nice experience. And that for all the animosity between the two of them, that Granger certainly was a good looking girl, _not to mention unbelievably intelligent_…Draco sneered at himself…No matter what he did he couldn't decide what the hell was going on with him. Granger had been his enemy for six years now, she was a muggleborn, best friend to the wonder boy, and a Gryffindor to boot! And here he was complimenting her, and snogging her as if he liked her or wanted some kind of relationship….

_But the dreams…._Draco couldn't deny that he did dream about her quite frequently, and most of them were far from innocent…and not even the kind of not so innocent his father would approve of. Not a single one was about him torturing her for information, or beating her in a Duel. Not a single one was about him handing her over to Voldemort, or putting her in her proper place in wizarding society. There wasn't even a single damn dream about him beating her at exams for Merlin's sake!

And because of this, because of the confusion that was griping him whenever he so much as thought of her. Draco chose to ignore it, he was already treading a fine line when it came to this war. A death eater who had been captured and was now playing as spy for the Dark Lord, who thought he was spying on the Order for him? He had joined Snape as a triple agent for Dumbledore…and he wasn't even entirely sure that he wanted the job. Nor was he entirely sure of Snape's devotion to Dumbledore…a gifted Occlumens, Snape could just as easily be fooling the Old man, as he was the Dark Lord.

It was with a heavy heart, full of doubt and uncertainty that Draco made the last few steps towards the Headmasters office, spoken the password to the Gargoyle, and climbed his way up the spiral staircase to the great door that was the entrance to his office.

Knocking on the door, Draco heard Dumbledore tell him to enter as clearly to him as if there wasn't a door in-between them at all. He slowly opened the door to the office and step inside. Within the Office he found the Headmaster behind the desk, his hands folded upon themselves and placed on his rather large desk. He thought he saw a rather large and beautiful looking red bird sitting on a perch besides it, but his eyes were quickly drawn to the other inhabitants of the room. Professor Snape was standing behind the Headmaster on his right side, and On his left were his Old Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. Professors Moody and Lupin.

None of the adults seem the least bit surprised to see him there, but the last three occupants did. It was with a small shout of surprise from Weasley that Draco noticed Potter, the Weasel and Granger sitting across from Dumbledore and the Three Professors, turned in his direction a look of surprise on their faces.

_Most of their faces…Granger just looks happy… _Draco just scowled at them all, as he felt his insides disappear. He thought he had a good idea of what it was that was going to take place.

A/N: Ok so its been way too long since I've updated anything, and I just wanted to post a chapter, because as much as I should probably be writing my own original work that can actually be published and make me money...I still want to finish my fanfiction...too much thought and plot work has been put into it for me to just abandon it now. So here you go, please review with everything from happiness of my return, to anger about my long absence...to what you guys all think about HBP being postponed until next summer.

Thank you,

-Sises


	15. Assignments

Draco moved into the room cautious of all the eyes on him. He paid particular attention to the old Professor Moody…who he just realized he hadn't ever actually been properly introduced to. The man who he remembered having turned out to actually be a death eater in disguise.

"Good evening mister Malfoy, please before we sit I must ask you a few questions." the aged Headmaster's voice sounded grave.

"Do to the nature of our conversation tonight, and of the history of which I am sure you are well aware of." At this Dumbledore followed Draco's eyes to the scarred intimidating old auror on his left.

"I must make sure that you are indeed Draco Malfoy."

Draco was a bit taken back to have his identity in question so suddenly. But he didn't complain, it was the smart thing to do of course.

"Of course professor."

Dumbledore smiled up at him, his eyes shining before his half moon spectacles.

"Thank you, now then what Draco, were the very first words you ever said directed at my person during Easter holiday of your first year here at Hogwarts?"

Draco stared, his eyes searched the old man's face which held the smallest trace of a smile on them. The other occupants of the room either stared at the headmaster in confusion as was the case of the three Gryffindors in front of him, or stared at Draco with mild curiosity as Professor Lupin was. Moody seemed to stare out the window, but Draco was sure that eye of his was watching his every move.

"Well sir, I believe that I called you a balmy old codger under my breath."

Draco heard one of the Gryffindors snort slightly as they tried to cover their laughter. Lupin hid his smile behind his hand on the pretense of scratching his nose. Dumbledore though didn't even try and hide his soothing laughter, it rang out through the room softly.

"Yes, I do believe that one had me chuckling for quite some time mister Malfoy. Well then if that is acceptable to everyone that this is indeed who he appears to be, then we shall begin."

Dumbledore waved his wand through the air, and a comfy looking purple armchair appeared out of nowhere and fell to the ground with a loud thump on Draco's near the corner of the Headmasters desk right next to Granger.

Sitting down Draco was just making himself comfortable when of all people Potter decided to break the silence.

"Actually Professor if you wouldn't mind I would like to ask Malfoy a few questions myself. Its not entirely proven that this is Malfoy. Everyone knows that he thinks your a er-." Potter hesitated in the process of what must of seen to be insulting his hero. Draco rolled his eyes.

"-what he just called you…I'd like to ask him a question of my own."

Dumbledore merely waved his acceptance to Potter before settling back in his chair.

Potter nodded before turning to Draco, neither one of them hid the hatred in their eyes, the rooms temperature might of risen a few degree's with the way the two of them were glaring at one another.

"Where was it that you and me first laid eyes on one another Malfoy?"

Draco didn't even need to think back on this one, the answer was so obvious.

"Please, don't make this difficult now Potter, it was the place I met everyone in our year, the Hog-"  
Draco stopped. Even before he thought he saw Potter move ever so slightly for the wand hidden in his robes Draco remembered. He remembered meeting a scrawny strange little boy with dark hair and glasses, years ago in Madam Malkin's. A first year who was getting robes just like him, he remembered seeing that oaf Hagrid for the first time, and saying something scathing, the boy hadn't liked it, not at all.

Draco backed tracked.

"No wait, actually it was before we even started Hogwarts, in Madam Malkin's. I had asked you what house you thought you would be in, and what Quidditch team you supported."

Potter moved back into his chair, neither accepting nor denying his answer.

The occupants of the room seemed to take this as acceptable, for Dumbledore started to open his mouth once more. But before he could get a word out Weasley interrupted him with a question of his own.

"What happened after the very first time you called Hermione a mudblood in our second year?" Everyone turned to look at Weasley who blushed ever so slightly, before turning to face him, his eyes holding just as much hatred as Potters had.Draco raised his eyebrow at him. _Is he trying to get me in trouble by having me admit I called her a mudblood years ago? He can't still be suspicious that I'm not me…stupid Weasley only he would take such an opportunity to try and point out my faults to everyone if he can get away with it._

"I believe you tried to curse me, except your spell backfire and _you_ ended up belching up slugs." Draco couldn't stop a little bit of the drawl from creeping into his tone, but this time Draco heard a laugh badly disguised as a cough. But he wasn't sure if it was Lupin, Dumbledore, or Snape who had made the sound. Tired of the continued accusations that he was not who he seemed to be Draco turned to Granger, who alone was the only one who hadn't looked at him since he had first entered the office.

"Are you going to ask me some inane question to prove that I am who I am?"

Granger appeared to check her nails for invisible specks of dirt before answering him, looking out of the corners of her eyes through her bushy hair to stare at him.

"No, I knew it was you the second you walked in the door. Not many people could master the way in which you can strut into any room as if it was your own bedroom. Then there's the every present drawl in your voice when you speak to Harry or Ron. _That_ isn't completely natural, so a polyjuice potion wouldn't give it to anyone pretending to be you." Draco thought he had heard an imitation of his own drawl within that sentence, but he didn't know what to think about it.

She turned to look at him this time, her brown eyes looking directly at his own. Draco moved his eyes down, not able to stare at hers when she was so close, he stared at her nose instead. Hoping to see how unbelievable ugly it made her, hoping to see that it was way too big, or entirely too small, that it was covered in acne, or some other type of blemish. He didn't want to think about how much it evened out her face, or how utterly cute he found it.

"And if anyone was pretending to be you, they wouldn't of been able to not stare me down. Only you would of felt unable to meet my eyes. Draco Malfoy."

Granger took her gaze off him, to give it to the Headmaster instead.

"Now that we've come to an agreement that this is indeed Draco Malfoy, would we be able to continue with the meeting Professor? I don't want us to waste all night making sure everyone of us isn't an imposter."

Draco took his gaze off of her bushy hair head to give it too the Headmaster as well, trying not to notice how Granger's friends were staring at her with curiosity and in Weasley's case, shock.

Dumbledore nodded to Granger before continuing with what he had been about to say.

"Yes well, now that we are all here, and we are all who we appear to be. I shall let the four of you know why it is that I called you here. It seems that Voldemort has moved some of his plans up, and is taking action sooner then I had anticipated. He has just recently attempted an attack on the muggle prime minister, who thankfully was able to escape with his life intact due to the protection of the Ministry of Magic." Dumbledore moved his eyes past all four of the students in front of him, looking each of them in the eye.

" Originally I had planned to keep some of my plans, and knowledge secret from the four of you." someone muttered something under their breath that Draco was sure had come from Potter.

"But due to certain circumstances I feel that a few things have to be taken into account. First of all, I must inform you that for those of you who do not know, and for those of you who have not yet figured it out. All four of you have to the knowledge of only the people in this room, become members of the Order of the Phoenix previously."

"Even Malfoy?!" Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes, Mister Malfoy came to me earlier in the year and requested my help in some matters, and in return I asked him to join the order, and Professor Snape, as a spy inside Voldemort's ranks."

"Now, all of you are non official members of the order, all four of you have skills as of which I need and would like to put to use. So all four of you, starting from this day forward will be working with the four of us, separately and together. You will be given assignments, and orders that I wish you to understand the total seriousness of them. You are asked to accomplish all of this while still concentrating on your studies and your school work, you shall not be given any special treatment due to your involvement in the order. Do the four of you understand all of this?" Dumbledore watched them all nod anxiously towards him before he continued.

"Then there is something that the four of us think the four of you need to know." Dumbledore nodded over at Professor Moody who appeared to be lazily looking out of the window, but knowing him had most likely been checking the skies and grounds below for death eaters prowling around unnoticed. Moody nodded with his back still facing the group sitting at the table. Turning around Draco saw that his electric blue eye that had looking through the back of his head towards the seven of them, was now searching every corner of the room, particularly the door and the window he had just turned from.

"Just shy of four hours ago the exact same time Voldemort was sending his death eaters to attack the muggle prime minister, he personally came with another lot to Diagon Alley. Caused a ruckus, and ended up setting fire to the Leakey Cauldron."

"What?!"

"It's wasn't in the evening edition of the Prophet, but we're sure it'll be in the morning one. We believe some twenty witches and wizards lost their lives in the attack, many of them innocents that were staying at the pub, Tom the bartender was one of them, as were some eight members of the Order of the Phoenix that showed up as soon as we heard what was going on."

"Eight members of the order are dead!?" Weasleys voice seemed shocked beyond recognition. Personally Draco thought, if Voldemort himself was involved in this particular attack, he was surprised anyone made it out alive to spread the news.

"But isn't that nearly half the-"

"LISTEN!" the four of them jumped. Even Lupin looked startled for a moment. Moody glared down at the students for a moment.

"When I've finished you can start asking questions, but until then shut it. Now yes eight members of the order lost their lives tonight, now that's nearly half of our entire organization. it's the main reason you four are here tonight, we originally wanted to train you separately quietly and slowly, but this attack came at such a surprise we now need more people ready and willing to fight." Moody paused, he limped his way around the desk a few times before coming back to the window and leaning against it.

" Now as to the attack. The Leaky Cauldron is gone, the fire caused so much damage even magic couldn't save it, and things definitely didn't get better once the wards around the place failed. This time tomorrow the muggles are still going to be running around in circles trying to figure out how a building that's two hundred years old burns down to the ground before anyone notices, when the damn thing didn't exist two days ago."

"Now Dumbledore has decided that the time has come to start teaching the four of you things that might prove to be a bit more useful then forgetfulness draughts, and switching charms."

"Yes I'm afraid Alastor is correct…Now I must ask you once again do the four of you understand all of this? As of tonight I am recruiting the four of you into full members of the Order of the Phoenix, but you shall be unofficial members to anyone that is not in this room. I won't speak much more on this subject tonight, but it is my belief that we have a spy in the order." Everyone seemed to sit up a little straighter in their chairs at this.

"Yes, it isn't confirmed yet, but it seems likely…we know that he has acquired spies within our ranks before. But that is for another night now.."

"Your tasks shall be as thus. Mr. Potter you have shown excellent skill and ability in the field of charms, and defense against the dark arts and so you will be going through a type of training with Alastor Moody similar to what one would expect from those wanting to become Aurors. He shall teach you about dueling, counter curses, and other such abilities that I shall leave to him to explain." Draco watched as Potter nodded his face set and determined.

" Mr. Weasley has since his very first year here shown that he is a well received member of his house, brace and courageous. And not to mention, if the events surrounding the sorcerers stone have much to say about anything, that he is quite the tactician. He also has an excellent connections with the Ministry of Magic due to the several members of his family within its walls. You mister Weasley will be working with myself to help you use such connections to your advantage. I will teach you to hone your abilities and talents so to help you remember important bits of information, to plot, and if need be manipulate others in a way that is of course not in any way harmful to them, but still quite beneficiary to our own goals. That is if you agree to this?" Ron blinked shocked at the extent and the sheer level of importance the Headmaster put in him.

"Of course sir."

"Now miss Granger here is one of the most brilliant minds this school has had the pleasure of working with in several years, and before the night is over I shall be giving you several items I would like you to research for me. Information is of dire importance in this war, and very few people are as able to acquire it as fast and as thoroughly as she is. I myself am a busy man and cannot always find the time to do all that I want or must. She has also shown surprising skill in field of mediwizardry, and I am sure Mr. Malfoy here is quiet thankful of this. This is why I am going to ask her to take up one of her free periods every week to study under Madam Pomphrey. She of course shall not know of your connections to the order, but this is I think the best way for you to hone such a valuable skill."

Hermione nodded her face looking somewhat like Christmas had come early, or at least the latest graded Transfiguration test,

"I also ask that you continue your work with Mr. Malfoy, though I do not believe the question is so much of his loyalty, but of his motivation. I think you shall be a much more effective partner with Mr. Malfoy, then either Mr. Weasley or Mr. Potter. You are to shadow his lessons he is to have with Professor Snape, As Mr. Weasley is to Shadow the lessons Mr. Potter is to have with Alastor"

Dumbledore paused a second to let all his information sink in with the Gryffindors before turning to Draco.

"Now Mr. Malfoy, you I am sad to say are asked to continue your work as our newest spy within Voldemort's ranks. But I am not asking you to do it any longer with your own previous wits and talents, that is why I am assigning Professor Snape as your tutor when it comes to the field of espionage. He shall be teaching you his rather unique tricks of the trade that will help you in your tasks. And I also am instructing all four of you to meet with Remus as he is going to be teaching you a few of his own skills, particularly the use of contacting fellow members through the Patronus Charm, among many other things."

A moment of silence took place in which everyone sat and thought about what they had just learned. It was with several million questions buzzing around his head that Draco tried to calmly clear his throat, though to him it sounded like he had a rather bad case of asthma for a brief moment.

"uh, um Professors…How, where, and when are we going to be meeting with you? I mean all four of us are to meet with two more professors separately, within the week? As well as keeping our student lives up and running and not to mention I assume casual as to not make anyone suspicious? How exactly do you expect us to do this?" Dumbledore did nothing but smile and laugh at his perfectly honest and not to mention important question.

"Do not worry about times and schedules the four of us shall work that out, and shall notify you by owl when ready. Now I know you all must have many more questions then I have answer, but the night is late, so I please ask that the four of your run off to bed. I believe the next few weeks are going to be ones fraught with a severe lack of sleep. Good night."

The four students all got up and in said good night, before making their way one by one down the revolving staircase, Potter and Weasley were quick to walk off heads bent low together whispering to one another. It wasn't until Draco saw Potter's head swipe to his other side, then stop and looking back towards Dumbledore's office that Draco notice Granger wasn't up with them, but slowly following him.

Turning around Draco looked over at her, her face was set in a curious expression that even he couldn't fathom. And as much as he hated to admit it, he had been seeing enough of her in these last few days he felt like he actually might know her a bit. It was a rather unsettling feeling, somewhat similar to the idea of him enjoying their rather physical sessions of late.

"Are you lost Granger? I believe that your friends are heading in the opposite direction." she gave him a rather strange look before shrugging her shoulders.

"I know, I was…well. I was just wondering what you thought about all this? About the four of us working together, about you and me working together."

Draco smirked at her, he wasn't entirely sure why but it seemed to be the only comeback he could come up with.

"Don't worry Granger, I'll try to keep things professional for you, don't want to keep that massive encyclopedia you call a brain all confused with ideas of romance now do we?"

Draco felt certain he had won this round with her, but that was until he saw his smirk reflected in her face.

"Oh well that's good Draco." The use of his first name when Potter and Weasley were doing the absolute worst job of pretending not to ease drop, caught him by surprise.

"Because I want to make sure your heads on straight and thinking about the more important things now. So instead of rushing up to give you that goodnight kiss you want, I'll just say good night and _sweet dreams_, don't wake up too many times in the middle of the night, might be rather hard to explain why your not sleeping properly." Draco's smirk died on his lips.

Granger glanced over her shoulder at the two boys who more or less were looking straight at them, Weasley who was near craning his neck to get a better view. Before facing him once more.

"Well then Malfoy, I guess this is until next time…don't think about me too much now." And she turned and walked away, and damn her if she didn't add just a little bit of sway to those hips of hers.

Minutes late as Draco was just getting ready to throw himself into bed, a thought came to him.

_Wait…did she seriously do all of that in front of Potter and Weasley?! How the devil is she going to explain that to them? _He had a brief image of the two of them ambushing him tomorrow morning before his first class, throwing hexes and fists rather randomly, but no less painfully, yelling things about love potions, and bewitchment. Draco shook his head before crawling into bed, he may not understand what the hell was going on with Granger, or for that moment himself and Granger…But he definitely had to admire the girls brass. Crazy, headstrong, and downright suicidal she had to be.

_But she does have a really cute nose…_

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The night past with a relative haze to Hermione. The little scene she had put on for Malfoy, though entertaining in her eyes, looked to base line treason to her two friends. She had while walking back to the Gryffindor common room, asked them to not ask a single question about what had just happened, as she herself didn't know. Which was truthful as she couldn't help but keep the smallest amount of blush off her cheeks. She liked to consider herself bold and brave, but seductive and outgoing were never really her aspects. She was as surprised by what she just did with Malfoy as he was. She just was damn glad that Harry and Ron didn't know what had made her late to class. She still had no idea how to explain that one, she just hoped the meeting with Dumbledore had put it out of their mind.. It seemed she was doing a lot of unexplainable things with Malfoy lately, and sadly no amount of Voldemort seemed to put him off of her mind.

The next morning things were slightly better, breakfast was as normal as ever, Seamus telling wild stories that were about as far from appropriate as one could get. Lavender and about three or four other girls were gossiping like the teenagers they were, and Ginny was busy sneaking glances at Harry over her toast. This last part had caught Hermione's attention, and she was busy trying to subtly get Ginny's attention when it was Ron who grabbed her attention suddenly.

"Her Hermione, I've been thinking of something."

Hermione stopped trying to wave at Ginny while making it look like she was just brushing the hair out of her eyes. Turning to look at Ron she noticed that he and Harry were bent rather low looking around at the table.

"What is it?" Hermione whispered, remembering the events of last night in Dumbledores office.

"Well me and Harry were thinking about it, we kind of got a little side tracked from the meeting with Dumbledore." Ron whispered. Harry nodded along, picking up where he left off.

"Yeah, and we were discussing it this morning and well we wanted to ask you something?" Harry too was whispering, still staring around the table as if expecting Seamus to interrupt any second once more.

"What" Hermione's head ran with possibilities and hypotheses. Harry and Ron took a slow deep breath together preparing themselves, when suddenly they both leaned back and sat straight and with the barest break in their solemn faces giving way to a smile they both spoke rather loudly at the same time.

"We just wanted to know where you got that Hickey!" Hermione's thought process just started to free fall before crashing, it took her a moment to realize that nearly half the school was looking at her, and most of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuff's on the other side of her were already whispering and giggling. Harry and Ron both wore identical grins on their faces as they looked at the rapidly shrinking girl sliding down her bench under the table. Hermione's face was burning with shame as she heard someone, most likely Seamus wolf whistle over at her, before saying something along the lines of "I knew that girl knew more then just how to study!" and it was with feverish pride that Hermione grabbed wand out of her bag on the floor, and sent a silent spell at her two best friends silently laughing at her embarrassment.

The quiet giggling and whispering about her stopped abruptly as both Harry and Ron took notice of their rather mucked up appearances. Both of them were covered in a rather strange looking slimy green substance that was quiet sticky and goopy. And it smelled rather strongly of peppermint.

Both of them had barely enough time to glance at each other in surprise, when the whole school seemed to burst out together in laughter. Hermione herself seemed to be the only one not laughing, as she calmly drank some pumpkin juice and took a bite of toast. She looked the two of them in the face and smiled just once, before returning to her food.

Harry and Ron after about five failed attempts from both of them to remove the gunk, shrugged their shoulders and proceeded to eat their breakfast as the laughter died down around them.

"Remind us never to embarrass you again Hermione." Ron stated still rather amused. His slime was spilling ever so slightly into his cereal, though he appeared not to notice.

"Yeah only you would have a spell like this memorized specifically if and when someone tried to embarrass you." Harry said with a smile on his face, his egg's were now rather disgusting looking, though he still tried to brush the slime off with his fork. Hermione just smiled before taking another bite of her toast, now reading a school textbook she had gotten out of her bag.

"You know Hermione, that is a rather neat looking spell. Could you teach it to me?" asked Ginny, eyeing Harry's green slimed covered form with a strange fascination like one would a dead animal on the roadside.

"Sure" replied Hermione. Ron glanced over at Ginny before moving back to his food.

"I dunno Ginny, from what I hear you don't need any more guy repelling charms, isn't your bat-bogey hex good enough?" Ginny shrugged before turning back to her own breakfast, her eyes still sneaking glances at Harry.

"Yeah, but this one at least leaves the guy smelling really nice…did you know peppermint was my favorite sent Harry?" Harry chocked on his green eggs.

"No…actually I didn't know that.

"How surprising, and yet I believe what Potter doesn't know could actually fill quiet a lot of the school library. But of course, I forgot it already has…well in either case, the three of you are to serve detention with me for disrupting my breakfast. Weasley, Potter be sure to clean yourselves up before going to class, I don't think Mr. Filch would appreciate you mucking up the school anymore then you already have. Come to my office directly after dinner you three, not a minute past. Good morning.…" Snape quickly strode off back towards the teachers table, his departure much more obvious then his arrival.

"What a git! Giving Harry and Ron detention because their got covered in goop? How is that even remotely fair?!" Hermione looked rather startled at Ginny for this, Ron and Harry just nodded their acceptance to the inevitable cruelty that is Snape.

"Ginny, you don't think I do deserve detention do you?"

"Well at least more so then Ron and Harry, you did cover them in this stuff?"

"You mean this green covered stuff that smells really good to you? I'm sure I should apologize to Harry for covering him in your favorite scent should I?"

Ron look back and forth between his sister and his best friend with a horrid look like it was a tennis match about to turn into a brawl. Harry just looked rather uncomfortable as he glanced at Ginny a few times.

Hermione was waiting for Ginny's retort when the end of lunch bell sounded, and a nearly every student in the school started to get up and leave for class. Most of the students gave the green cover boys, and the two cross looking girls a wide berth.

Tired of waiting for a answer Hermione was about to give Ginny one of her own when she was interrupted by Harry.

" Ok I really don't know why the two of you are fighting, but please stop. Ginny, Snape is an arse, he was going to give detention to me and Ron even if we had stopped someone from choking on their own fork, and we don't care that Hermione cast this stuff on us we deserve it. Hermione leave Ginny and her strange peppermint scent fetish out of this, and don't you dare teach this curse to her, because I don't think I will ever get this stuff off my glasses." Standing up Harry waved to the two girls before pulling Ron away with him, heading in the direction of Gryffindor tower. Before they had made it through the doors Ron stopped and turned to them.

"Tell Binns not to wait up for us!" The two of them disappeared through the doors of the great hall.

Ginny and Hermione were left sitting at the Gryffindor table. Rather shocked and amused. It was Ginny who spoke first.

"Did Harry actually say the words 'peppermint scent fetish' ?"

A/N: Alright by popular demand here is the next installment of The Astrum Mark! yes so alot of you people reviewed my story, some of you were new and just lately attracted to this story, others had been waken by a six month or so lack of Astrum coma that you could barely believe once you saw it. Well here's a bit more, hope you all like it. and well in case you were wondering this is still not probably going to be a sign of regular updating, mainly cause I suck at keeping a schedule. That and I'm starting classes tomorow, so even less time to do this (not that I really need much time, I wrote half this chapter over the last half hour) anyways... here you go, please I happen to know some 100 plus people are going to get an email as soon as I update this...could you all please review? just once? all you have to say is something along the lines of actual words...Good, bad, great, shit, more more more more more...I don't care, just give me something.

The chance of me writing more of this is directly related to the number and frequency of reviews I get on it. Think about it, in the mean time I'm off to have some homemade peach lemon cake...its delicious.

-Sises


	16. Potions nerves

Classes were rather packed and eventful as far as Hermione was concerned, even history of magic's usual monotony was at least broken up by the arrival of Ron and Harry freshly clean halfway through the period. Ancient Runes was rather tame though, they barely had to use even half the Nordic alphabet, and barely a third of the Celtic alphabet. Hermione could of finished her worksheets in her sleep, she hadn't even needed to double check her answers in her textbook.

Potions of course was always a cut above the rest, both in workload and in stress level. Professor Snape did not make exceptions, nor did he structure the class based on anything else then his own sheer level of brilliance. Which was why halfway through the sixth years Gryffindor and Slytherin potions class, was to be found nearly everyone still scrambling around double checking potions and ingredients. While the Professor himself patrolled up and down the rows, checking on various cauldrons and handing out both low marks and scathing comments at the same time.

Thankfully this particular potion, the forgetfulness draught (Hermione was more then a little curious as to how Professor Moody had so casually thrown out the subject of today's potions class as an example just the night before in Dumbledore's office.) was one that did not require partners. Hermione herself was ashamed to admit that she could not in most situations work with a partner, because as modest as she thought herself to be, her partner usually wasn't up to her skill level and therefore the outcome was less then what she sought after. She never did like people getting credit for her work.

The potion that the sixth years were working on this day was a rather complex one, hence why Professor Snape required it in his NEWT level potions. Thought simple in theory, a potion design to make the drinker forget the last twelve hours of his life. Its actual practicality was rather immense. Too much of one ingredient, and instead of forgetting half a day, you forget half your life. Too little of one ingredient, and the effects could be permanent, and not just temporary. Hermione was just about to add her last ingredient to her potion, therefore turning it from the murky brown it was currently, to the cool clear light blue color it was supposed to be, when a stray piece of parchment flew past her vision, and came dangerously close to falling into cauldron. Letting out a small 'eep' of alarm, Hermione quickly scooped up the note and shoved it into her sleeve, before continuing to stir her potion. Her small noise had attracted both the attention of Professor Snape, and a few of her fellow classmates. Luckily the necessity to watch the days potion quickly drew her classmates attentions off of her, Professor Snape on the other hand continued to stare at her for a few more moments.

Hermione for her part was pretending to be rather busy with her potion as she waited for the Professor to move along to the next horrified student in the classroom. Hermione nervously clutched the parchment in her pocket through the lining of her robe. Though she was nearing completion of her potion the message on the parchment was drawing her curiosity much more then it should. She knew she should not care about the parchment, for one because she knew for a fact that it had come from one Draco Malfoy, and two because it was about the fifth note he had thrown at her this period. Most of them asking about certain ingredients and double checking things even he didn't dare ask Professor Snape about. Though it was annoying to Hermione, she did realize that it had a very precise and perfect logic to it.

Professor Snape for all his brilliance and skills as a Potions Master, was not truthfully the best teacher. He seemed to despise children on site, he had very little patience, and he particularly did not like repeating himself. So that meant asking questions in his class, especially during the potion making process was strictly forbidden. Unless the question was important enough to warrant a detention. Draco it appears has come across the perfect solution. Though talking was never allowed in the dungeon class, passing notes was entirely possible, as long as the Professor didn't notice it. And it seems that rather then asking his fellow Slytherins, for which intelligence was never a high point. (even Hermione had to admit that Draco Malfoy was the most intelligent of all the Slytherins in their year.) He sought advice from the person closest to his level of understanding, Hermione. Hermione herself wasn't entirely sure if this was something she found flattering, as he must then admit at least to himself that she was at least as smart if not smarter then he was. Amusing, as it meant he must be having something of a measure of trust in her to be asking her such important questions. Or just plain irritation, to be used as his own personal reference book when he needs it.

Hermione quickly placed her lilac root into her bubbling potion and stirred it a few times letting it dissolve. She then after checking that Snape wasn't looking in her direction, pulled the parchment out of her robe and unfolded it. While she quickly scanned the note she heard Snape on the other side of the room speak to the class aloud.

" The Forgetfullness draught is one of Wizardkind's oldest potions. It precedes the obliviate charm by nearly a hundred years, as it is much simpler both in its creation and usage, but also in its effect."

Hermione having finished reading the small note neither smiled in amusement nor snorted in disbelief as she had the last few notes. This one, instead of asking her for directions regarding the potion was much more interesting.

_Granger,_

_Have you finished your potion yet? And did you and the two wonder boys happen to get an owl to come to Professor Snape's office after dinner tonight?_

_-D.M._

Hermione gave herself an extra second to admire his neat handwriting and nearly perfect grammar and punctuation (a feat neither Harry or Ron could accomplish if they actually had eaten a dictionary.) before starting her reply. Taking out her wand she erased his message, and then started to write her own. Though she had been quite sure that Professors Snape's order of detention had been just a way of getting them to come down to his office after dinner with out allowing suspicion to seep in, she felt that as a teacher he could of come up with a much kinder way of going about it.

Finished with her note, she folded it neatly and quickly looked about the classroom. Snape was following his usual route. At the moment he was telling a very fussy Pansy Parkinson that her potion was supposed to be blue, not black, and a light blue at that. _Merlin only knows how that cow got into a newt class_ thought Hermione spitefully.

Hermione realizing Snape's frustration with such an inept Slytherin student was her only chance, took careful aim and proceeded to launch her note through the air towards Draco's hunched form. Before allowing herself to watch where it landed she turned back to her own potion and began to pour some of it into a set of vials.

A loud echoing sound like that of a cannon going off in the room made Hermione's heart sink for the poor soul who now had to face the wraith of the Professor. Hermione nearly spilled her potions vials all over her desk. Thankfully Hermione thought, as she turned around in her chair to see who the unlucky victim to be was, the explosion hadn't come from the Gryffindor side of the classroom. Looking on with the rapt curiosity that minor chaos brings, it was with a look of abrupt horror that Hermione noticed a ruined cauldron and a rather irate looking Draco Malfoy covered in what looked to be black tar. _Oh who am I kidding he looks absolutely pissed off at the world…I really hope what I think just happened didn't…._

Snape unable to believe that his prize pupil could of made such a mistake worthy of Neville Longbottom, quickly ran up to the remains of the cauldron crouched down and began sorting through the ash at the very bottom, clearly looking for something out of place.

Hermione heard Harry and Ron muttering under their breaths and laughing to themselves just on the other side of her desk. No doubt they thought it was due to nothing more or less then Draco's own ineptitude that had ruined his potion so completely. But Hermione had a sinking feeling, somewhere near her heart that seemed to now be around her knee's that it might have something to do with someone else's mistake. Or perhaps a very poor hand eye coordination, and aiming skills. The class as a whole seemed to be held silent. Normally an exploding potion would be a small break in the monotony of the class, punctured along with Snape shouting out a detention towards the person foolish enough to have screwed up their potion so much. But Draco had never exploded a potion before, in fact most people could hardly remember a time when he had so much as gotten a less then satisfactory on any of his potions.

Hermione was quickly feeling a shred of guilt well up inside her. She turned away from the sight of Snape bent over a ruined mass of metal and ash, and turned instead to Draco. Covered in sludge and wearing a look that would make most students turn right around, it was no wonder no one else seemed to be able to look away. Hermione watched for a few moments as Draco proceeded to try scraping the black substance off his clothing and out of his hair. It seemed to be a rather sticky substance as he was having a hard time removing any of it from just his hands alone. Hermione wondered why he didn't just use his wand, and figured that it was probably somewhere in his robes, inaccessibly because of the mess.

It took barely a minute longer before Snape rose from the ruined cauldron, in his hands was what looked to be a rather large piece of ash. He was studying it rather intently. Unexpectedly he turned away from the piece of ash, and looked over at Draco as if just noticing his presence.

"Mr. Malfoy, are you experiencing any pain or burning sensations? Do you perhaps need medical attention?" Draco seemed to have not heard him as he continued in vain to remove even the smallest amount of the thick tar substance.

"M. Malfoy-"

"I'm fine." Draco's tone held a rather cross and dismissive quality to it, and he didn't so much as raise his head to meet the eyes of the Professor. A few of the Slytherins turned to whisper amongst themselves, having noticed the strange tension between teacher and pupil. Professor Snape seemingly not noticing anything out of the ordinary with Draco's mood, only nodded before standing up fully and walking to the front of the class room.

He held up the large piece of ash between index finger and thumb, rather about the size of a large coin or button, it was highly unremarkable.

"Who does this belong to? Which one of you is going to take the credit, and the punishment for destroying someone's potion? Causing an explosion that endangered lives and was as stupid as it was immature." No one said anything, students averted eyes, many shuffled in their place, some checked watches. But no one moved, and no one spoke. Finally one of the Gryffindors near the back raised their hand.

"Uh Professor, what exactly is that in your hand…besides ash anyways?"

Snape sneered.

"This Mr. Finnigan is what caused Mr. Malfoy's potion to erupt, it is what prematurely ended this class session, and it is what is about to give its owner four nights worth of detention."

The class looked if anything more confused than ever.

"This is a piece of parchment that landed in Mr. Malfoy's potion causing the reaction we all witnessed. Now I shall not ask again, who does this belong to? I am more than prepared to hold this class here until someone takes the blame."

The mood in the classroom seemed to increase tenfold, but still no one moved or said a thing. A the mention of the word parchment, Hermione felt like her heart had fallen past her knee's flopped out of her shoes, and was now rolling around on the floor somewhere. Her hands were clenched into her robes, and she felt rather hot around the collar. Not knowing what to do, she told herself she was going to wait three more minutes, and if Snape still was prepared to hold them until someone confessed (as she knew he would be) she would come clean. In the mean time she braved a look at Draco, who must alone besides her know exactly who it was that ruined his potion.

Hermione felt rather faint when she saw that he was looking directly at her. Hermione being a person who always excelled at her work, could only imagine the humiliation and anger someone would feel to have their hard work ruined so. _And he knows that I did it to! He must be so angry…oh merlin Snape is going to be so pissed._ Sighing to herself, Hermione hung her head before turning away from Draco to look back at Snape. He was now glancing at every student in turn, his face as always perfectly calm. The piece of ash was still in his hands. Hermione resigning herself to a rather large lecture from Professor Snape, as well as the four nights of detention he promised (she was sure he would extend it to seven before the day was over) started to raise her hand in the air.

"Well? Is anyone going to speak up, or shall I start looking around for a spare bit of Veritaserum?"

"It was me Professor." the class seemed to turn as one, looks of shock on their faces. Even Ron and Harry seemed to be surprised at who answered. Standing their with all eyes upon them, Draco Malfoy continued in vain to wipe the sludge off himself.

"It was my own mistake, not a prank or some kind of sabotage."

Hermione's hand fell limp at her side, her guilt continued to rise, and her heart, which seemed to have returned to her chest was now straining to burst from her chest. _Why is he taking the blame for me?_

"Mr. Malfoy are you sure?"

Draco it seemed had given up on trying to removed any of the black tar from himself, giving it what could only be described as a look of pure hate, he looked up at the Professor and nodded.

"Yes, I had completed my potion, and was idly tossing a piece of crumpled parchment into the air and catching it, and I guess it must of hit my potion instead."

Snape said nothing for a moment, only looking back and forth between Draco and the ruin that was once a cauldron.

" Very well, then if your potion was indeed complete, do you have your potion vials to turn in for credit?"

Draco half heartedly motioned to his desk, which not only also covered in sludge, but was missing a rather large section of itself that once held his cauldron.

"Must have been blown away or covered in the sludge."

Snape nodded, he crumpled the piece of ash in his hand before letting the dust drift down towards the ground.

"Well then I supposed class is dismissed, all of you turn in your potion vials, except you miss Parkinson, that is not a potion, it is barely even a liquid. And let me just say that if I ever have another potion explode in my class room by a bunch of sixth years, it will be several detentions for whomever is to blame."

The sixth year Gryffindor's and Slytherins were quick to leave the classroom.

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At dinner that night nearly the whole school was abuzz with the news of Draco's cauldron explosion. The Gryffindors gladly helped spread the news throughout their house, as well as Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The Slytherins though much more quiet about it, were also talking about the news rather obviously. Draco hated it.

He hated how in six years of making potions, of obtaining the highest grade in potions, he blew up a potion. Not only did he blow his cauldron up, but he blew up a completed potion, and covered himself in the most stubborn form of tar one could imagine.

Draco sat at the Slytherin table, idly trying not to ease drop on his classmates mutterings about his potions class. He personally didn't find it all that interesting, so much as annoying and embarrassing to blow a potion up, especially at his year with his level of skill. But in the end all it was, was one persons careless mistake that caused a rather notary amount of amusement. Of course the actual interesting part about it all was that it wasn't Draco's careless mistake that caused it, but no one knew that.

_Except of course the perpetrator themselves._

Draco raised his head from his plate of food, and risked a glance over towards the Gryffindor table, where it seemed the chatter was (hopefully) dying down. He scanned the table until he found what he was looking for. A head of bushy brown hair doing anything but looking up from her food. Not talking to her friends, not looking around the great hall, glancing at the teachers, and definitely not looking at the Slytherin table, agonizing over the guilt at what she had done.

Draco sneered, he almost wished that she looked up at him, looked up with eyes full of tears of unmistakable guilt and shame, with a face that clearly said how sorry she was, how remorseful. Draco mentally slapped himself as he snorted. Not only would that never happen in twenty years worth of wrong doings on Grangers part, but having her show her remorse would be if anything worse. Draco didn't want her remorse, Draco didn't want anything from her. He knew that. He knew and understood that part perfectly. What he didn't quite understand is why the blame didn't end up with her

Thinking back on the classroom, Draco was sure she was going to crack. He had seen it on her face when she had looked at him. She knew it was her fault, and she was going to own up to it, no matter what the cost would be in house points, or personal pride. And yet Draco took the fall, blamed it on himself and saved her from a just punishment. And he didn't know why.

_Have her all apologetic and filled with regret. Please….That would only make the fact that I helped her out that much more of a reality._ Draco had no idea why it is he took the blame. And it was pissing him off. The whole thing was affecting his meal, most of which was still untouched nearly halfway through dinner. Draco sneered down at his plate, tired of being angry with nothing to blame it on. _True it is Grangers fault, but even if I did want to charge her with the destruction of my cauldron and potion, blame her with it, reek countless days of ridicule and insult for her act…he couldn't. One because he had already told Professor Snape that it was his fault, and even if Snape knew it was Grangers fault, he couldn't do anything about it because the whole class heard HIM say it was his own damned fault…and the second part was that though it was her poor aim that had caused the explosion, it was her poor aim in returning a note he had thrown at her, which just brought the whole damned thing back to him full circle…_Draco mindlessly moved a few items around his plate, ate barely a few forkfuls before shoving the whole plate away from him and moving to his feet.

Though dinner wasn't over, Draco knew he needed to calm down and get over the whole cauldron exploding incident if he was going to be meeting up with Professor Snape and possible the Gryffindor three. Turning around ignoring the stares from his fellow Slytherins and what sounded like another round of Draco bashing from the Gryffindor table, Draco walked out of the Great hall, sneering once more. If only he could understand why he had taken the thrice damned blame!

_Damn you Granger!_

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Hermione was having probably the worst dinner since her two months at Hogwarts where she had to have all her meals alone because she hadn't yet made any friends. Nearly straight out of Potions, and the incident still brought a bit of a blush of both embarrassment for secretly causing it, and guilt for not standing up to the blame to her face. This of course wasn't made any better with both Ron and Harry boasting about the entire thing to everyone who was or wasn't in the classroom. Not even five minutes into dinner and Hermione was already thinking up several ways of how she could get away from the table that would still allow her to get to her detention with name in less then a hour.

_Merlin this whole thing would have been easier if I ha just took the blame…why did Malfoy do that anyways? He's practically making it worse for me…how am I going to talk to him again without feeling horribly guilty…_Hermione's head was staring straight down at her food, though she felt more then a small want to look over at the Slytherin table to see how the blonde was fairing through this no doubt awkward and embarrassing dinner. It was only her sense of guilt, and sheer level of embarrassment that stopped her from looking up and making sure the blonde wasn't about to do anything drastic.

Hermione could just see him foaming at the mouth, wand in hand twitching, read to cast a wide range of deadly curses and hexes as the slightest provocation. She half expected to feel the heat of at least one hex pass by her bushy hair. She wasn't quite sure if she wanted to feel it or not. At least a spell flinging hell raising Draco Malfoy was one she knew how to deal with. If he were to cast one offensive spell in her direction, then she would be free from her guilt. But him taking no action was allowing her internal turmoil to continue.

Hermione almost felt sick…and what made her feel even more sick was that she was doing all this over Draco Malfoy…who yes the boy was something of a mystery when it came to the war, the order, and truthfully to herself and whatever strangeness has been going on between them. But he still was the cruel boy who called her mudblood just not so long ago, who at least at one point seemed to value Voldemort's ideals…who was a clone of his father, cruel, heartless Slytherin. That's how Hermione liked to remember him, it made her feelings of guilt disappear.

But she couldn't help see him on the night she found him on the steps of the school, nearly dead, his ideals and expectations destroyed just slightly more then his body had been. She couldn't help but see the boy who had told Professor Dumbledore Voldemort's plans that involved her and her family…the boy who made her late for class because for some strange reason he wanted too…Hermione frowned at her half eaten food…She never did like to be confused and uncertain. Those weren't things Hermione Granger was. She was Intelligent, quick witted, fierce, brave, loyal, and usually correct and unquestionable…Draco made her question everything, most of all her judgments when it came to good and bad, and past wrongdoings vs. future prospects.

_Sweet Merlin…only a guy could cause half this much confusion in a person, trust Draco effing Malfoy to drive a person completely mad just by existing…_

Tonight dinner wasn't nearly the calm comforting affair it usually was for Hermione. She was more then happy to see it done and over with, and to see herself walking slowly down to the dungeons for her "detention". In the back of her mind Hermione was wondering how the little potions event was going to effect whatever was going on between Draco and her lately…

"What do you think Snape's gona have us do? Skin slugs or extract poisons or something?" Ron's question confused Hermione for a moment, before she realized that she hadn't actually told them about Draco's note, and therefore about her suspicions about the detention being just a cover up for a meeting with Snape regarding the Order and their special training. Before she could give a detailed answer though, they had turned the last dim corner to find themselves facing a rather large oak door blocking the entrance to Professor Snape's personal office, a place the three of them have been over the years, but one no student ever willfully goes.

Knocking ever so lightly, their barely had finished when they heard Professor Snape tell them to enter. Pushing the door open the three Gryffindors found once again under the piercing eyes of Professor Snape, his face ever the usual look of distain and boredom. It didn't take long though for the three of them to notice that they were not the only ones here in the room. As Hermione knew, sitting rather relaxed in a leather arm chair sat Draco, looking for all the world like he was bored and wanted nothing more than to go to bed for the evening. At the sight of the blonde, both Harry and Ron grew rather wide grins on their faces, both eyes twinkled with what Hermione long found out to be signs of mischief.

Quickly moving in front of the two to stop any fights and or arguments from breaking out Hermione was just about to address the professor when he beat her two it.

"Sit down the three of you, the night is late as it is, and I don't have time for the three of you to remember how to walk. Sit down, we have a lot of work to cover."

Hermione quickly moved forward and grabbed the seat in the middle of the row, closest to Draco. She felt it would be best to keep as much room between the two happily gloating boys on her left, and the ill tempered Slytherin on her right.

Ron and Harry finally realizing the joke time was over, and they were indeed within the private domain of Severus Snape, took their seats too in a very no nonsense manner. Thankfully Snape wasn't one to waste time, and therefore begin speaking immediately, despite what Hermione felt to be a rather heavy tension in the room.

"Now Dumbledore has asked me that the time has come to assign the four of you your first assignment dates. Which thankfully in the interest of saving time, are going to be tonight. We can't have all the students knowing about random members of the Order working in Hogwarts, so Potter and Weasley are going to be taking a portkey to meet up with Moody." Hermione looked over at Harry and Ron who both had wide grins of excitement on their faces. Non of them had expected their training to come so soon. Though Hermione knew that schedule was going to sporadic at best, and therefore had to be whenever they could find time. She knew that neither she, nor her two friends were going to complain about working late in the night with such interesting tasks.

Snape rummaged around in one of his pockets before pulling out what looked like a broken chalk board eraser. He placed it on the table before him and stood back to stare at Harry and Ron. Looking at the object with suspicion, Harry was the first one to say anything.

"Are you going to say anything else? What me and Ron are going to be doing, or what Hermione and Malfoy are assigned?" Snape gave what could only be seen as a sneer reserved especially for Harry.

" No Mr. Potter, we are on a tight schedule, and there are already going to be several hours of long work tonight. I will not waste any time explaining things that you do not need to know. Now, Portkey here before me, take it, and go!" Both Harry and Ron quickly grabbed the portkey, and before they could so much as pass a worried glance to Hermione, they disappeared with a small pop.

Hermione felt nerves settle in her stomach, she could barely wait to hear what it was she and Draco were going to be required to do.

Snape taking his time seemed to revel in the lack of two less Gryffindors in the room. Turning back to face the two remaining students, he gave the two of them an unreadable look before speaking again.

"You too will be joining me in the Room of Requirement. Miss Granger, I shall be teaching Mr. Malfoy some of the basic provincials of what it is I am require to do while disguised as a Death Eater. You as ordered are to observe for whatever reason might be possible. While you dutifully watch Mr. Malfoy fail to accomplish what it is I set out to teach him this evening, I am also to lend you a few books from the library." He removed what looked to be three rather large tomes from a desk drawer which he placed on the desk in front of Hermione.

"Professor Dumbledore, busy with all he has to do would ask if you could do a bit of research in his place." pausing only slightly, it was still enough time for Hermione to get a rather breathless phrase out.

"Yes sir."

"What Professor Dumbledore would like to you research is Voldemort's connection to the Dark Mark, how it connects the Death Eaters, how he uses it to contact us, the meaning behind the ritual of its creation, and if possible, ways to remove the mark."

Hermione was busy trying to take everything in, had just enough time to notice that her books had to do with Tattoo's, magical connections, and Dark magic respectively. It took her a brief moment to remove her gaze from what she expected to be a very interesting read.

"Now, on your feet, we need to make it onto the seventh floor to begin, and if I have to hear a single utterance of 'can we leave yet' or anything I deem to be similar enough to it, it will not only be a detention, but twenty five points from their house, yes Mr. Malfoy from my own house if need be." Hermione couldn't quite tell if Snape was in a rather foul mood as opposed to usual, or if it was just his rude behavior contrasting so rashly with her bubbling nervousness and excitement. Draco seemingly unfazed by his head of house rather grim and rough personality that was a staple of the man, decided to voice his own idea as he open the office door.

"Professor, you said that I'm going to fail to accomplish what you are going to teach me tonight. Why do you believe that?"

Snape said nothing for a few moments as they left the office and made their way through the school. It wasn't until they were nearly back in the great hall when he answered.

"Because Mr. Malfoy if you can accomplish half the things I am going to show you tonight, then you might just very well be the most accomplished wizard I've ever had a chance to meet." The scope of what level of work he was implying seemed an almost harsh amount to Hermione.

"But do not worry Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger here will be around to watch every mistake and failure you make. It's half the reason she is required to be with you on these meetings. Because it takes too long to run down to the hospital wing and back every time you fail to get to your feet." Hermione was shocked by the amount of amusement Professor Snape seemed to show as he talked about what sounded like near torture to Hermione.

"After all we do need a skilled medi-witch on hand."

A/N: Hey everyone! I just thought I would let you all know, I'm alive! and so is this fanfic! I'm just lazy as hell, and well its the Holidays, so think of this as an early Christmas present from me to you, and please send me reviews let me know what you all think, I was happy with the number I got with the last chapter, but many more would be even better. I happen to know quite a few of you have this story on your alert list, and I happen to like people who review more then once. So please I don't care if you review the last three chapters in a row, send me this one, tell me what you think.

I hope it doesn't sound too strange, its been a long time since I did much on this, and over half this chapter has been written since about when I last updated...anyways, here ya go.

-Sises


	17. The Room of Requirement

Draco felt more then just a small amount of hesitation as he followed Professor Snape up the multitude of stairs of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was still feeling more then normal levels of distain and hatred towards the man, and to him his motives were suspect at best, his loyalty blackened. But Draco knew that if he wanted to survive the next meeting with the Dark Lord, much less every meeting he was going to have to face, then he needed some sort of training, to show him what it was he needed to do, and how to do it. He needed Snape, as much as he hated it, as much as he believe he hated the man walking in front of him, for the moment he needed him.

The walk was a short one, though it was filled with an unbroken tension. No one spoke for the entirety of the journey, the only sound was the echo of their footsteps on the stone floor. Hermione followed behind the two Slytherins her mind more on the books in her arms then what might lay ahead for the evening. Somewhere in the castle a clock chimed eight o'clock.

They climbed for several more minutes, turning down corridors and past all manner of classrooms and supply closets before stopping in a deserted hallway opposite a rather strange looking statue of a man and what looked to be trolls. Draco felt like he had been here before, but couldn't quite name the place. Figuring that it was the darkened state the corridor was in that made it look different then when in a proper light, he turned to see where Snape was heading next when he noticed he wasn't there. Snape was in fact heading back down the same way they had just come, but before Draco could take more then a step back towards him, he abruptly turned around and without a glance or explanation of his strange behavior proceeded to walk back up towards Draco and Hermione. Following the darkly dressed man Draco noticed that Hermione had propped herself against the nearest wall and was looking for all intensive purposes bored. _Does she not find Snape passing some fifty feet across a hallway just a tad bit strange?_ Draco didn't have time to think more on the subject when Snape once again passed him and moved down back towards the stairs. Draco was getting a bit impatient with whatever it is that was happening in front of him and was about to say something when the Potions Master quietly made it back up once again, this time though stopping in front of the two students.

Turning to face them he had a look of utter nothingness on his face, blank except for the darkness of his eyes that always held a powerful look to him. Even Draco, skilled as he thought himself to be in reading people by their looks and manner had trouble reading his head of house, much less looking directly into his eyes for more then the briefest moment.

"Are you too going to follow me in, or are you content to stand out here all night long?" Snape didn't wait for either to answer before turning and making his way through a door opposite Draco and Hermione. Draco blinked before looking again, but there was in fact a rather large intricate looking door that Snape was just walking through. Draco watched as Hermione got to her feet and followed the Processor inside without so much as a bewildered look on her face. But Draco knew that there had been no such door their just a moment ago, and Hermione Gryffindor as she was, was still bright enough to notice when a door appears where none had been before.

"What the…" Seeing no other viable option, Draco followed the two into the apparently recently created room.

What he found himself in was nothing that set his mind at ease. The room was rather large for Hogwarts, nearly half the size of the Great Hall yet it held none of its charm, and had about as much color and sophistication as a cave. In fact the first impression Draco had of it was that it was a cave, but upon closer inspection it was resembled more of the inside of an abandoned cathedral or castle. The walls were stone, with facets born into them, what almost could pass as ramparts dug into the walls for he assumed some texture in the bland dark room. Along the wall were torches lit with only the most uninteresting of flames, that though bright seemed to be swallowed by the very darkness that was the room. Draco felt nearly as uneasy here as he did within Voldemort's company.

"Isn't this a little unsettling Professor…I mean how are we supposed to learn anything when the room is about as festive and likeable as a graveyard?" Hermione's voice actually echoed slightly in the near empty room, bouncing off the far walls and disappearing through the darkness.

"Actually Miss Granger that is exactly what I do not want in this room, festive and agreeable atmosphere make one prone to enjoy themselves and therefore to be easily distracted. The more unsettling ones environment, the more apt one is pay better attention to what it is they are doing in the present." Professor Snape as always only spoke slightly above a whisper, and in this large space it made no notable echo, but his cold voice still pierced through the room like a spear, like a cold wind at night. Draco was finding himself less and less willing to actually go through what it was he was about to go through. His only consolation was that it seemed he wasn't the only one feeling unsettled as Snape had put it, over the room.

"Still.."

Her voice was softly spoken, and if the Professor had heard it he made no comment. Brushing off his long teaching robe he unceremoniously threw it to the floor, before looking at the two students still huddled not more then five feet from the entrance.

"Will you two come away from the door, there is no real need to run from this room. Though I shall be making it my mission to install the feeling in Mr. Malfoy at the very least. Miss Granger you may move to the nearest wall, out of the way, but still close enough to render Mr. Malfoy his medical attention. Though as you did not bring any advance mediwizardry reading material, I shall promise he will not come to any arduous amount of harm. This time."

Draco felt his hand close on his wand more out of reflex then any conscious thought. If there was anything more unsettling then this room (that Draco was now realizing looked more like an underground crypt or mausoleum then anything else) it was the slight level of amusement and what seemed to be joy emanating from Snape's tone. He was enjoying this, and that could never mean anything good.

Watching Hermione move towards the wall, books still in hand. Draco realized that the time had come to see what it was Snape was going to offer him in the way of teaching. Giving the man a quick sneer he slowly withdrew his wand, leaving it at his side.

Hermione was feeling just the tad bit nervous, she couldn't shake the feeling of dread Snape had so willfully placed upon her once she had entered this newest form of the Room of Requirement. Eerie was not a strong enough word for it, but evil seemed altogether too strong. Though she knew her job was really more of an observer, Hermione couldn't help but be curious as to what Draco was about to be taught in this very unorthodox classroom. _Dark magic? Advanced defense magic? Something related to his spy work that Professor Snape himself might of created?_ Hermione was smart enough to admit that though she knew Professor Snape to be an accomplished wizard, she really had no true idea of how powerful he really was. But if the things Sirius and Lupin had once told her were true, mixed with the fact that he had spent years now as a spy against one of the worlds most powerful wizards of all kind, this centuries darkest sorcerer Lord Voldemort, and continued to succeed in his work. Hermione could only guess at the knowledge that was held within him…

Placing her books down at her feet, Hermione wasn't even going to feign interest in them at the moment. Her eyes were for the moment set upon the two wizards in the center of the room. One who for all his skills at deception and hiding his emotions looked just a tad nervous and unsettled, the other looked nothing more then shadow made solid, an extension of the dark room.

"Now Mr. Malfoy in this room I will be doing my best to teach you some of the most powerful forms of magic that I know of. Know that not all of it is going to be the bang and spark of what someone of your age associates power with, for my magic resolves much around the subtleties of guile, stealth, and knowing your opponent." Snape was still as he spoke, his voice never more than a whisper, was still clear to both students, as if he were right next to them.

"I shall be teaching you things that no one else can in the world, things that one can truly never learn from another person. Many of the such techniques I shall be bestowing unto you are ones I myself came upon through trial and error, through sheer experience that has kept me alive, both in my workings with the Order of the Phoenix and with the Dark Lord. Some of these arts I came across before I aligned myself with the headmaster, some of them I perfected afterwards. Know that the way in which I came across them, or in which I used them in the past does not matter." Snape's hands were wrapped carefully around his back hidden from view. Dressed only in a black pair of slacks and a black collar shirt he looked if anything, much more dangerous than while he was when teaching class.

"When it comes to the work you are to be doing, how you survive is not always a question, it is more that you do survive. Small little inconsequential things like minor pains and emotional upheavals. Alienating oneself, ruining friendships, disavowing a love, destroying trust…these are things that can be broken, shattered, removed, left, and forgotten. Your job is the acquisition of information, the recollection of it, and the correct assessment and conclusion of it. Your job is to spy, to seek out secrets and things no one is to know. You have to be able to root our truths, to recognize lies, to understand the small intricate dealings for people who have left all manner of humanity behind them. You have to lie, cheat, steal, kill, and do it quickly and without remorse. Then you must recall it, reliably as is your job. The only thing more important then your life is the information that you have within you…Draco do you fully understand this?"

Draco nodded, though after a brief pause and rather stiffly. Professor Snape of course noticed this.

"I do not yet think you do, I do not yet believe that you understand what it means to do your job. But you will…it is my job that you understand this more than anything else."

Professor Snape's stood staring at the young man before him, his eyes black pools of uncertainly. His stance like a statue, solid unyielding.

"Mr. Malfoy before we begin I must ask you, do you find yourself to be a qualified and skillful duelist?" The directness of the question made Draco pause, having expecting something much deeper, something almost philosophical.

"Um, yes Professor." Snape sneered at him, his face showing the distaste he had for such an answer.

"_Um yes? Um yes?_ Mr. Malfoy it is a simple question of yes or no, unless you are so unsure…now Do you find yourself to be a qualified and skillful duelist?"

Draco's answer came much quicker this time.

"Yes Professor."

"Good then, then disarm me!"

Snape's arm shot out like a missile, barely reacting after he had finished his sentence, his wand apparently having been in his hand the entire time shot out like a sword, the force of his spell going off with a bang that made the whole room ring. Draco having been so caught off guard barely got his wand up to his chest before the spell hit him and he was thrown off his feet unto the cold hard ground. Hermione only barely stopped herself from letting out a scream. The suddenness of the attack seemed border line unfair and cruel to her, but she knew better then to state such a thing. She knew Snape would only throw back to her that life was hardly fair, and that when fighting for your life you were never told when to expect an attack. It didn't stop her from worrying slightly though, wand clutched tightly in one hand, spells being readied in the back of her mind. Knowing the risk one has to take to survive in the war, and watching someone be tested against those risks were very different things.

Draco shakily got to his feet, his wand still firmly grasped within his hand. Standing up he looked straight down towards Snape, and had just raised his wand once more when he was once again knocked aside by another spell sent his way by Snape.

"You are reacting much too slowly Draco, you must be fast, faster then anyone else. Not only must your thoughts be one step ahead of theirs, but your actions must be too. You will not always have notice to your attacks, you will not always know who your aggressor is. But here you are given such high advantages, if you cannot succeed once against me, then what can you possible expect to do when up against Voldemort and his Death Eaters?"

Draco once more got to his feet, and once more once he was fully upright did Snape send another spell towards him. Draco managed to dodge that one, but before he could get his own off, Snape's second spell sent him sprawling a third time.

"Faster Draco, much faster."

Draco moved for a different approach this time, while in the process of standing up he managed to send a silent spell towards Snape, who might have been surprised had Draco's accuracy caused to spell to come within ten feet of him. Snape though paid no attention to the harmless spell as it past him, and only cast another spell towards Draco, and another after that, and one more after the third in rapid succession. Draco managed to avoid the first, but the second still caught him off guard once more sending him off his feet. The third spell, one Draco never had a chance to even spot, came out and hit him in the side in mid air, causing him to fly several feet before coming crashing on the ground.

"That was a good use in changing tactics and acting randomly in duels, a lesson you must learn. Never allow your opponent to catch any sort of pattern to your attack or defense. Your problem though was that your aim was not nearly good enough, and Miss Granger was practically in more danger then myself. You lack focus, and experience."

"Well that's what your supposed to do aren't you? Maybe teach me something? How is this supposed to do anything except try my patience?" Draco spat, his usual drawl missing from his voice as he picked himself up off the floor. Snape seemed to pause ever so slightly before nodding towards him.

"That Draco is one of the things I am trying to teach you, patience…You must learn the utmost patience with this. You must be able to wait for perhaps nothing for hours on end. Had I more faith in your abilities I would have you wait all night on the Quidditch pitch for me to return, but I know you too well. So cold hard experience will have to be what teaches you, it is the best teacher after all. You are too strong headed and proud to learn the easy way, and so you will take your hits until you learn to move out of the way."

Snape waited barely a moment before sending another spell after Draco. Draco for his credit seemed able to dodge it rather easily, catching on to Snape's sudden jerking movements. The second spell Snape cast he was able to block with his wand, but the third once again caught him in the chest, lowering him to his knee's. If Snape noted any improvement in Draco since his last attempt, he made no comment. He only paused for a moment before sending another rapid slew of spells towards Draco, who managed to catch one or two, but was always bested by the third. To add some insult to the mounting injuries, Snape soon threw in a fourth spell once Draco seemed nearly proficient to tackle the first two. And so the night continued.

Hermione wasn't certain how long this session had been going on, all she knew is that Draco had taken more falls then she thought he would allow before calling it quits. Though she doubted Snape would allow him to quit at this point, so she figured that must be Draco's reason for sticking through this harsh test of speed.

Snape barely talked as he brought Draco down time after time, except to berate him for not being fast enough, or for not getting back up fast enough. To Hermione the whole thing seemed to be a lesson in what kinds of torture Snape liked putting a student through. Draco though to Hermione's internal glee, seemed to forgo even attempting to attack Snape at all, and started focusing just on his defense. Perhaps thinking along the lines that if he eventually mastered the ability to defend against Snape's attacks reasonably enough, he would then be able to get a few off on his own. Hermione was wondering just how long it would be before he found himself fast enough. _Snape is like a machine, his spells flying out of his wand with what looks to be no thought at all, and his movements seemed jerky before but that was just because of the usually unseen speed. He's much more like a fencer, quick rapid attacks, back to a defensive pose, before another quick rapid bursts of attacks. But with his speed, its hard to tell when he stop and when he begins._ Hermione was rather shocked at how skilled a duelist Professor Snape was, and she wondering in the back of her mind that if Snape was this good_. How exactly were Professors Dumbledore and Moody? Renown duelist in their own time? And Professor Flitwick who was known to be a dueling champion in his youth, then there's Voldemort himself, who Dumbledore has been known to have fought on more then one occasion, with neither coming out the better._ Such thoughts were both fascinating in their level, and frightening in their imagery. Hermione couldn't help but think that Snape should be counted along with the best of the ages duelist, though she figured that fact that he wasn't was yet another aspect at just how little the world knew about Professor Snape. _Which is what keeps him alive, his anonymity._

Hermione though she has trouble agreeing with in on a personal level, could understand Snape's training method. No theory was ever better then actual experience, and when it came to matters of life and death, the best thing for Draco to survive was the best kind of experience possible. _But Snape's speed!_

The man was like a dancer in his grace, his wand flew through the air like a conductor's baton, spells of different colors shooting out like bottle rockets. Hermione watched as a particularly nasty exchange took place. Snape was in the middle of his third spell in his set when Draco actually managed to fire off a spell of his own. The two collided in midair causing a brief flash of light that just barely lit the darkened space around them. No doubt surprised by the effect, Draco missed it when Snape's next spell flew through the smoke from the small explosion and struck him square in the face. Unlike most of the spells, this one did not send him flying into the air. The spell collided with his face sending his head back as Draco let out a shout of surprise. Bring his bead back to face Snape, Hermione let out a small gasp. The spell had collided with Draco's face, smashing his nose and covering his face in blood. Snape for his part barely seemed to notice that Draco's face was covered in still flowing blood. Draco whipped one arm across his face staining his sleeve and doing little actual good. Hermione watched as some of Draco's blood slipped down past his mouth and chin to splatter against the collar of his shirt.

Snape continued with his test."

Hermione found herself supporting Draco as the two of them left the Room of Requirement. Snape had continued to test Draco for nearly two straight hours without stop. His mentioning of how Draco wouldn't come to any serious harm on this night scared Hermione as she looked sideways at him. His entire face seemed to be bruised, dried blood was caked around his nose and mouth from the first spell that had crashed into his face. He had several bruises on his neck and shoulders, and that was all Hermione was able to see. He walked with a limp, and no doubt had several bumps and bruises from colliding with the stone floor as well. Walking down the cooridor, with Draco's hand thrown over her shoulder, they mainly moved in silence, occasionally broken by a wince or a sharp intake of breath from Draco. Hermione was more then a little concerned. Snape had always been a cruel teacher, but this bordered on abuse if not pure assault. But the lines between fair and unfair were blurred right now, though he was a teacher, this wasn't exactly a school approved class Draco was attending. Hermione's code of right and wrong were moving and shifting, and she found herself confused and uncertain. Just like a lot of things lately.

As the two shuffled their way down a few flights of stairs, neither one of them commenting on just how much Draco had to lean on Hermione to do so, they came to a bend in a corridor where they stopped.

"Ok, so I'm guessing you don't want to go to the hospital wing, mainly because I have no idea how we would explain all these bruises and marks."

Draco having said little to nothing the entire time since they left the room of requirement, surprised Hermione by speaking aloud, his voice was still quite strong for all his pain.

"You could always just tell her we were having a particularly aggressive romp in an abandoned classroom, where we knocked over a few desks and you otherwise broke me." The suddenness of the flirtatious comment nearly caused Hermione to drop the Slytherin. Shaking her mind to rid itself of the mental images, which once she realized she couldn't tell if it was from disgust or distraction. Hermione decided it was best just to not say anything at all. Keep all comments to herself, Hermione took a tighter hold on the boy who she noticed was smirking quite happily it seem. _Not so hurt after all huh Malfoy?_ and starting walking down the right bend in the hallway.

"Come along Malfoy, if you can make sarcastic comments, then your not that bad off. Hopefully I should be able to heal you, again I might add." Draco it seemed had nothing more amusing to add to that, which Hermione found pleasing enough, as the two continued on.

After what seemed like another half hour of waddling down the hallways, Hermione found what seemed to be a particularly suited classroom. Opening the door with some difficulty Hermione and Draco stumbled into the room. It appeared to be an old astronomy classroom at one time, the ceiling wasn't flat, but was actually domed like the top half of a sphere, and every where were the smallest pin pricks of lights, almost like faded stars. Moving over to the desk Hermione swept aside a few odds and ends that were on it, and quickly cast a cleaning charm to removed the layers of dust. Draco hoped himself up on the desk with a small groan, he stretched out his arms and back slightly and each movement caused a painful wince or twitch from him. Hermione took her book bag off her shoulder and placed it down on one of the few desks that still graced the classroom. She opened it, and quickly took out one of the medi-wizardry books that was in there. Turning to Draco she noticed that he was staring at her quite intently. His face looking like he had just came from a barroom brawl was still messed and bloody, but his eyes were piercing her's quite intently.

_He must be in so much pain, and yet look how alert he is. Draco may not be the bravest man in the world, but he is strong in other ways._

"Al-alright Draco take your shirt off, I need to get started on those bruises." Nodding, Draco did as he was told, Hermione found herself a little surprised at how nonchalantly he removed his shirt in front of her. Though it wasn't the first time he had done so, it was still strange how easy they both found themselves in these roles. Draco quickly pulled his Slytherin tie our from his collar, and placed it on the desk beside him. His long fingers worked the buttons of his vest, and pulled that off too. Hermione knowing how many bruises must be hidden under his shirt, still had to hide a bit of a blush at watching Draco take his clothing off in front of her. Her mind wandered a bit to other places before she forced it back to the present.

Draco finished undoing the last of his shirt buttons, and slipped the white dress shirt off his shoulders. Hermione was right, bruises covered nearly every inch of his pale chest. Some of them were so dark they almost covered up the star tattoo he had below his collar bone. Hermione bit her lip but decided to get started as soon as possible. She was pretty sure it would take some time to rid the blonde of some of those marks.

"Almost Draco, lets get you all patched up ok?"

Some time passed as Hermione fixed bruises and cuts and lacerations on Draco's body. Snape had been thorough in the brutality of his tests, barely an inch of Draco wasn't covered in an scratch or bruise. Most of them were on his chest and back, but more then a few were on Draco's leg's and arms. Then there was the blood and cuts on his face, the bleeding she found in his gums, and the black eye. All in all, Draco Malfoy had gotten his white arse handed to him quite successfully, and Hermione told him this as she finished healing the last bruise she could find.

"Oh bite me Granger! Do you have any idea what its like to be Snape's punching bag? He was throwing me around in that place." Hermione had to agree, after watching Snape throw curse after jinx at him.

"Well I hope all his sessions aren't like this, or I'll be healing you nearly every day." Draco only snorted as he got up from the desk.

"Oh I'm sure its going to be like this a lot." he said, as he turned and rooted around for his clothing. Hermione found herself glazing down at Draco's nearly naked body. In the process of healing him, Draco had to remove his trousers so Hermione could access the bruises and marks on his legs and thighs. And now Hermione found herself watching a rather (once again) handsome Slytherin boy in only his skivvies, dark blue and soft looking ones too Hermione thought. A small smile broke out on her face, as she allowed herself the briefest moment to enjoy Draco bending over to retrieve his pants off the floor.

Straightening up, Draco turned around in Hermione's direction and caught her staring at him. Hermione not sure if she should hide her intentions looked at him straight in the eye, and said nothing.

Draco blinked.

Then he walked over, dropping his pants down on the floor as he did, and placed himself in front of Hermione inches away from her. Hermione found it difficult to breath as she felt the temperature in the room increase, though whether it was coming from her or him she couldn't tell. Draco moved even closer to Hermione, he placed a hand on her cheek and rubbed her face just a bit, leaning forward he moved his face against hers, his mouth just before her ear.

"Thank you," He said, before he kissed her on the cheek, then her chin, and finally on the lips.

Something seemed to explode between them as the two of them fell into each other. Draco continued to kiss her passionately, one hand still caressing her cheek and the side of her face, the other was down by her waist rubbing circles into the skin just above her waist. Hermione place her hands on his chest, feeling the newly healed skin for herself, the light muscles, the barely noticeable hair, and the tattoo just below his neckline, that she could swear was warm to the touch. She found herself trying to move closer to him, and his hand continued to rub small circles into her side, moving back and forth as he did so, around her side towards her back, and then again the other way towards her stomach, each time moving up and down her waist line just barely slipping down to her hip bone.

Draco moved one hand into her hair, running it through her brown bushy locks of hair, he grasped the back of her head and kissed her ever more forcefully as he suddenly spun the two of them around.

Hermione broke the kiss to move her lips down to Draco's neck, where she started tasting the flesh of his neck, the soft skin between his shoulders and his throat. Draco made a hissing noise when Hermione reached a particular spot. Smiling Hermione went back and Draco hissed again, his body pressing itself even tighter against hers. Smiling into his neck, Hermione bite him ever so softly, and was rewarded when Draco seemed to let out all the air he was holding. Moving a hand to her chin, Draco brought her lips back up to hers and kissed her strongly, opening his mouth he slowly moved his tongue across her teeth.

The two of them continued to wrestle and explore one another, Draco breaking a kiss to suck on Hermione's lip, before biting down with his teeth and pulling away slightly. Hermione tracing her hands around his chest and stomach, feeling his muscles contrast when he caressed them. She would move a hand around to his back, then down to where his boxers covered his bum, she would give him a small squeeze, before she brought her hands up to his shoulders and held him ever closer to herself.

The two of them at some point started walking backwards, until Hermione found herself up against the desk. Taking the next step, Hermione hopped up onto the desk and then wrapped her legs around Draco's waist. Draco continued to kiss her on the mouth, then the neck. He found that Hermione was quite partial to him kissing a trail from her mouth to her neck, to her earlobe, and that she liked it when he bit her just ever so on the ear, before going back and kissing her softly on the mouth. Hermione found herself not knowing what she wanted to do next, part of her wanted to explore this man that was all over her, find his weak spots, and his soft spots, and all his special places. Another part of her wanted to do nothing but lay back and let him continue with his wonderful mix of soft and slow teasing, with his hands, and his back and forth mix of harsh biting and sweet caressing of his lips.

Draco moved his hands down to her waist, and pushed them under her shirt, feeling the soft warm skin of her sides, and she moved them up. Hermione with out a sound, started to unbutton her vest and shirt, ignoring the tie altogether. In seconds the two of them had removed her shirt, and Hermione gasped as Draco proceeded to attack her newly exposed flesh with his hands and mouth. He left trails of kisses from her collar bone down her tattoo to wear her breasts pushed out against her bra, with his hands he moved up her stomach to cup the underside of her breasts, then moved them back tracing the edges of her underwear around her chest to wear they clasped in the back.,

Hermione found herself scooting back farther across the desk, and pulling the Slytherin up and on top of her, she then started to suck on his neck as she ran a hand through his soft silken hair, and another teased at the very edge of his boxers. She hadn't decided just how daring she wanted to be.

Draco had stopped thinking more or less altogether as he continued to just touch and explore the girl in front of him. Days of flirting, and nights of dreams of the most wonderful kind had taken its toll on Draco, and now all he wanted to do was she if she felt as good in real life as she did in their shared dreams. So far she was much better in real life. Moving over the desk, Draco placed himself in a more comfortable position as he toyed with her bra, hesitating over if he should proceed or keep things where they were Draco found himself placing one hand on Hermione's hip, half palming her butt, the other on the inside of her bra just to the side of her right breast, slowly moving closer. Moving his hand in, Draco found himself completely feeling up Hermione's breast, feeling her nipple hard against his palm. She let out a small sound that Draco hoped was a moan as he caressed her skin, and played with her. As he worked his one hand on her chest, Draco started to kiss her on the lips once more. Her soft lips seemed to fit perfectly with his, as they both moved together, caressing and tasting one another. Hermione found herself content to stay just where she was for the next year and a half, half naked, filled with lust, and with a rather handsome boy on top of her doing the most wonderful things to her body. Wrapping one leg around his Hermione pressed her thighs into him, and thrust her pelvis out towards him, all for the joy of feeling him pressed ever harder against her. For her efforts she felt Draco's hand move and squeeze her arse again harder then ever, then move slowly down across the stitching of her plaid skirt, until he reached the end and there he started to caress her thighs, moving ever so slowly up her left leg. Hermione moved a hand down his back towards his waist, and gave him his own little caress, hoping he would continue. He did. Draco's hand moved its way up her leg ever more, slowly he caressed and massaged, and just lightly touched, before moving on, until he reached the edge of her panties, and there he toyed with them right where they met her leg.

Breaking their kiss Draco moved back to her ear and whispered so ever lightly into it, so close she could feel his lips moving against her as he spoke.

"Shall I stop, or would you like me to continue."

Hermione had to swallow a few times as he mouth had gone dry, and her mind was fuzzy with feelings, and little thoughts.

"Stop and I will kill you." she said, her hips rocking ever so slightly, wanting Draco's hand to move just a few more inches.

Hermione felt as well as heard Draco's chuckle against her ear as he started to bite her once again, his hand moving across her underwear, pushing it aside as it went.

A/N: Hey guys! so Its been an incredibly long time since I've last posted anything here, and honestly I didn't know if I ever would again. But I've been reading lately, and I felt in the mood to finally finish this chapter, Its a little rushed, so I apologize for any mistakes. But here you go. I hope you enjoy it. Because honestly I don't know if I will do any more any time soon, but there is always hope. Please review if there is anyone still reading this. Thank you.

-Sises


	18. New Dawn

Hermione felt herself stir awake, feeling sore from sleeping on such a hard surface. _Why is my bed so hard?_ Opening her eyes she found herself to be in a dark room that most definitely was not her dormitory. That was when she remember Snape and his lessons with Draco, and Draco's injuries, and the classroom and…

Hermione looked over at her side to see Draco sleeping beside her on the desk. After everything that had happened the two of them must have fallen asleep exhausted. Hermione felt herself blush remembering everything that they did, her only solace was in that she at least held a bit of herself back as she realized happily she still had her underwear on, just like she remembered. Hermione wasn't stupid, being the brightest witch in her year, she was far from it actually. So she knew something was brewing between her and Draco, and that something had been slowly growing for the last few weeks. She wasn't quite ready to label it something as powerful as love, but their definitely was an attraction between the two, one they both felt and gave into a least a little bit just a few hours ago. Hermione's eyes opened more in shock. _What time is it? How long have I been sleeping?_ slowly detangling herself from Draco, Hermione slipped off the desk, stretching a bit, she felt her back and shoulders pop a bit. Moving her arms in circles she tried to work the soreness our of her muscles a bit. _I am never going to sleep on a desk again._ Hermione after massaging her sore shoulders proceeded to find her discarded clothing, tucked into shirt which she found on the floor was her wand. She waved it in front of her fact, and a set of numbers appeared in front of her, blue and transparent. Hermione read them for a moment, and noted that it was nearly four in the morning, and that if she didn't get to her dormitory soon, she would be meeting early rising students in the hallways. _And I really am too tired to think up an convincing lie at the moment._ Picking up the rest of her clothing, Hermione tried to get the image of a cheap date/one night stand out of her head as she quickly dressed and prepared to leave. Glancing over at Draco still sleeping (uncomfortably no doubt) on the desk. Hermione found herself unsure how to proceed._ Should I leave without waking him?_ _That would make me feel like I'm some cheap slag sneaking out afterwards. But if I woke him up, what would I say? I don't even know exactly what that all was, or what it means to me, or to him. Or what this means for us? Is there even an us? Was this just an accidental one time thing? Does he want more? Do I? _Hermione shook her head, the endless thoughts were starting to give her a slight headache. _What I need is a shower, a quick nap, and food. Then I'll think things out, and take things from there._ Hermione finished getting all her things in order, draped her book bag over her shoulders, and proceeded to walk towards the door. Stopping at the last second at the threshold, she quickly walked back, kissed Draco once on the cheek, and then left the room. Hurrying in the direction of Gryffindor tower.

Nearly running through the halls, Hermione kept her thoughts on nothing more then getting to her room, and taking a nice warm shower. She could almost feel then hot water pouring down her body, soothing her physical aches just as well as her mental ones.

Coming to a halt in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, Hermione tapped her frame a few times to wake the sleeping picture.

"What what what?" she said sleepily.

"Carpe Diem" Hermione whispered to her urgently, trying to hurry the portrait open. The Fat Lady yawn while nodding, waving one of her hands in a vague notion of acceptance. The portrait swung open, and Hermione dashed inside, moving so fast her book back smacked both against the picture frame, and then the wall on the other side.

Moving with long strides into the common room, Hermione had eyes for nothing except the winding staircase the lead to the girls dormitories. It was this perhaps that didn't allow her to notice anyone else was in the dimly lit common room until they spoke, surprising her and nearly causing her to scream out loud.

"Whoa, quiet down Hermione it's only four in the mornin' You don't want to wake anyone up do you?" Ron asked, his voice loud even while he whispered. Hermione glared passed the ginger red head, to the spectacled boy on the other side of him with the sheepish look on his face.

"Well if Harry hadn't scared the living boggarts out of me, maybe I wouldn't of nearly wet myself." she hissed at them. Just then she noticed that Harry and Ron weren't the only ones in the common room, she saw that Ginny was sitting on the floor next to the couch, her head resting against Harry's knees.

Hermione took another look at her two best friends, they looked to be nearly as exhausted as she did. Ron seemed to have a small burn on his cheek, and Harry had some type of bandage on his hand.

"I take it the two of you had an eventful evening as well?" Hermione asked, a smiling threatening to break out on her face. Ron and Harry bore identical grins at her, their eyes shining in the dark room.

"It was excellent!"

"Completely great Hermione!"

Hermione felt a yawn coming on, but she fought it off as she moved to sit down in one of the armchairs.

"So." she said.

"Why don't you tell me you guys did all night?" Harry and Ron both looked at each other before turning back towards her. Hermione saw out of the corner of her eyes something move, and quickly noticed that it was Harry's hand, moving to place itself on Ginny's shoulder. Ginny for her part, scooted around to better face Hermione. At Harry's touch she made no response, but she did frown for a split second when she looked at Hermione closer.

"Well lets let the boys tell their exciting story one more time, then before we all go off to bed. Will there be time for you to tell us what you've been doing all night?" Hermione saw the look Ginny gave her, and tried to pass it off as paranoia due to being tired. _She doesn't know anything? How can she? Did he leave a mark on my neck maybe? A hickey?_ Hermione smiled back at her, determined to let nothing through.

"Of course."

Draco found himself waking up on the most uncomfortable surface he had ever slept on. Sitting up slightly, he realized that he had been using his arm as a pillow. _Well that explains why my arm is asleep._ He was shirtless and cold, and for a moment he had no idea how he had got in such a state. Then his memory returned, and he wasn't sure if he should smile or groan. First was the lessons with Snape that came back, the speed with which the man fought him, the talent he had with rapid casting, and his sink or swim mentality that had left Draco with more then just a few bruises. Bruises that were no longer on his body he realized. _Hermione…that's right. Granger healed me, she half carried me into an abandoned classroom, she healed my bruises, then…then we…_ Draco let the images of the event go through his head, the sounds, the feeling, everything. The thing that stood out most was how random and sporadic it all was. Neither of them planned it, everything just happened, it was spontaneous. It was different.

Sitting up Draco looked around the room for his discarded shirt. He had found his tie, flung across the back of a chair, his shirt was laying among the dust on the other side of the desk he was sitting on.

Dropping down to the floor Draco picked his shirt up off the floor and threw it on, ignoring the buttons for now he then retrieved his tie, and placed it around his neck. He felt his body pop and ache from both the events of several hours ago, and the unforgiving surface of the old teachers desk. Draco looked back at the desk as he started to button his shirt up. Nearly the entire room was covered in dust, proof that it hadn't seen use in several years. The desk he woke up on was nearly devoid of dust though, thanks to the activities that had taken place. It was then Draco wondered where Hermione had gone, and when. A quick glance around the room confirmed neither she nor any of her things were here. That meant she had gotten up and left without waking him, without saying anything.

_Probably for the best._ He thought. Draco couldn't think of a single thing to say about the events that took place. He was still getting his mind wrapped around it all. To convince himself that it had actually happened, he didn't have time to ponder on the why. In the back of his mind he could still hear his father's voice as he talked about muggleborns when Draco was a child. _Mudbloods_ Draco thought. The hundreds of times his father had sat him down and talked about the crisis the wizarding world was in.

_"What are the two types of people in the world Draco?" Lucius asked._

_ "Wizards and Muggles Father."_

"_And how many types of wizards live in this world Draco?" His father's voice was steady and strong, full of wisdom beyond his years._

_ "Three sir." Draco stated, having been told such a thousands times over._

_ "yes Draco, three. There are Pureblood wizards, Halfblood wizards, and muggleborn wizards. What we call mudbloods. Do you know why that is?"_

_ "No sir."_

_ "Because it is how we understand that their blood is dirty Draco. A mudblood is a wizard born of a muggle, a person who has no knowledge of our world, of our customs or traditions; they are a foreigner of our ways. And they are going to be the death of us."_

_ Draco watched as his father move towards him, and bending down on one knee he faced Draco at eye level. Almost as if they were equals._

_ "They are not fit to learn magic Draco, they don't seek to protect it like we do. They just want to use it."_

_ "Wizards are dying Draco, there are barely thirty thousand wizards left in Britain. And in the world? Who knows? Maybe less then one hundred million. The muggle population? Billions. Nearly fifty million muggles just in Britain itself." Lucius was pacing his study, a small glass of scotch in one hand. Draco was sitting in his fathers chair by the fireplace, wide eyed and attentive._

_ "How are we supposed to keep our traditions alive, our way of life sustained with such few numbers? When a Pureblood mixes with a Mudblood, half of his tradition is lost. That child, that Halfblood only knows a portion of his wizarding legacy, half of his life is surrounded with muggle culture, foreign non-magical traditions that don't fit with ours." Draco had his mind filled with the image of some of his favorite places: Diagon Alley, Paris' Wizards strip, The Spanish Corral. Stripped away as new generations of wizards abandoned their forefathers places for muggle things._

_ "There are so few of us Draco, more wizards are halfbloods or mudbloods every year, more families are forced to mix their genes with muggles just to keep some resemblance of prosperity! Our numbers are dropping, and in one hundred years their may not be purebloods anymore, maybe not even wizards. All the great things wizards have done will be swept away by time. Because we let ourselves become weak willed, we allowed ourselves to stand aside as foreigners entered our world, and stripped us of our way of life. We just stood by and let it destroy us."_

_ Draco thought of the Malfoy family library, a veritable museum of wizarding history. He saw it burned down, or abandoned by people who no longer cared._

_ "You are one of the last children of a pureblooded family, you may find a fine witch to marry one day, and continue raising a son like I have in our ways. But he might not have such a choice, one day the Malfoy family may be forced to abandoned its heritage just to survive." Lucius glared at the wall._

_ "Because of the choices others have made for us Draco, or have not made. We are going to die because we never took a stand, we never let our rights be known."_

_ Lucius stared Draco straight in the eyes, grey eyes meet grey eyes, and father and son both recognized the great similarities they shared. It was breakfast, and Lucius had just finished reading the Daily Prophet, scoffing at a story of another silly law had been passed by the idiot Minister Fudge._

_ "We are dying Draco, the muggles are starving us through depopulation. The wizarding world is being threatened, and most wizards are just letting it happen. Look at this, 'wizards vote for promuggle protection laws, lets keep things fair'. They look at the muggles, and the mudbloods and they see nothing wrong. They look at the union that created halfbloods and they cheer for equal rights and for greater understanding and an open mind. That open mind is what's killing us Draco! The more we open our doors to allow foreigners in, the sooner we realize that we are outnumbered now, that we are the foreigners, and that our way of life, our very homes, are no longer ours. Fools like this Fudge, and Dumbledore champion of mudbloods and muggles. They are going to kill us all. "_

_ Lucius placed his hand on Draco's shoulder, and squeezed ever so lightly._

_ " You must marry well, and by that I mean to a proper pureblood witch. Mudblood foreigners are responsible for the decline in wizarding populations, we mustn't let ourselves be swept away by such mundane creatures like those." Lucius stared Draco straight in the eye._

_ "We must be strong Draco, we must not become extinct."_

_ "Muggles are weak and useless, they fill the streets like vermin, consuming natural resources, choking out good decent wizards like weeds in a garden." Lucius glanced and Draco, and a rare smile came across his face._

_ "You do me proud son, you have the look of proper wizarding pride about you. I hope you can one day fight for your rights along side other like minded wizards. A war is coming Draco, and I intent to fight for my family, and for a better world of magic."_

_ A dark look came across his fathers face, that Draco didn't like. It was the same look he had every time to starting thinking of the future._

_ "It's either us or them Draco, either we let them kill us, or we fight back."_

"_If only the rest of the world was behind us, if only the Ministry wasn't run by fools and imbeciles, then we could take the fight to our real enemies. We wouldn't have to waste anymore innocent lives." Lucius drew a dark hood over his head, placing a mask in the likeness of a human skull over his own pale face._

_ "Disgusting vermin those muggles are."_

Draco shook his head, trying to block out the memories of his father's lectures. He thought instead of Hermione, and whatever it was that was going on between them. He thought of the first time they had kissed in the room of requirement, then again in the hallway before class, then whatever it was that had happened just last night.

_She's Hermione bloody Granger, mudblood friend of Harry Potter. She's part muggle, her very existence is a danger to wizarding society._ Draco though thought of the Dark Lord, and the things he was asked to do. _I can't do that…muggle or mudblood or anything, there are some things that are just wrong no matter what. Just because she isn't a proper witch doesn't mean she deserves to be tortured and killed. Dogs may not be human, but that doesn't mean they need to be put in needless pain before we put them down. Stray cats may be everywhere in London, but we can still be civilized about dealing with them._ Draco felt his head hurt.

_She's a mudblood, its wrong to feel anything but distain for her, but I can't torture her or her family, I can't kill her. Is it possible to just ignore it? To pretend that though she stands for everything I hate, can I just walk away from that? Do I kill her and her family, continue serving my own family, and what we stand for? Do I turn traitor and join Dumbledore and his muggle lovers who are the reason we have to fight for survival anyways? Do I betray the Dark Lord but ignore the Order? Can I just not choose a side? Can't I just live my life and not be involved in any of this?_

Draco thought of the Dark Lord, his anger, his power, and all the things the atrocities he's committed.

_Can you ever be against something morally but not against it literally? Would anyone on either side leave me alone if I chose nothing? To fight against Him, but only so far as it saves my own skin?_

Draco slid down to the ground, and brought his knee's up to his chest.

_I'm trapped no matter what I do…How can I serve the Dark Lord while keeping my sense of right and wrong? But how can I turn against him and not work for the Order? How can I hate what she stands for, but enjoy the feel of her body, how can I want to save her from such a horrible fate, but then not want anything to do with her afterwards….I have to stop whatever this is between us. Whatever attraction we might have needs to stop. If I were to get close to her I would be siding with the Order by default, I would automatically be on Potter's side._

Draco forced himself to his feet, his head was throbbing, his stomach felt sick with nerves.

"I can't do this anymore…I can't be who everyone wants me to be, I have to be myself…."

Draco unbuttoned the first few buttons on his shirt, and looked down at his chest where the unexplainable star tattoo he shared with Granger lay. He then undid the buttons on the sleeve over his left arm, and there he pulled it back to reveal the dark mark. Just the sight of it filled him with equal parts horror and fascination. All the tales of the Death Eaters he had heard from his father as a child, and now the things he had seen himself, and been instructed to do blurred together into a mix of emotions.

"But who am I?'

"So you healed Malfoy after he got served by Snape? Hermione you are too kind." Harry shook his head, a smile on his lips, while Ron continued to chuckle at her story. Ginny however had a thoughtful expression on her face. She had her lips pursed together as if she was trying to keep the words inside.

"There's something else isn't there Hermione?" She asked.

Hermione felt herself unable to form words once again. She finally nodded her head after a moment.

"How did you know?" Hermione asked.

"The way you came in, that look in your eyes. Half scared, half excited, completely satisfied." Ginny answered, a bit of a lazy smirk on her face.

"It's a look I've had on my own face more than once." She continued. Ron seemed to choke on something, as he sputtered.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" He asked, with an accusing look at Harry. Harry and the girls ignored him, concentrating on Hermione.

"I-I-I really don't know how exactly to explain it, but I really feel like I need to. Can you guys promise not to take this too hard, and just please continue to be my friends?" Now all three of them were watching her, looks of concern and love on their faces and Hermione smiled at them for a moment, a feeling of pride in her chest.

"I think I may have feelings for Draco Malfoy…Something's happened between the two of us, I don't know how to explain it. Its not quite a relationship or anything official, but it isn't nothing either. There is an attraction between the two of us, an emotional connection." Her words were met with silence. Harry finally was the first one to find the words he was trying to express.

"Hermione- A- are you trying to tell us that your falling in love with Malfoy?"

Hermione took the time to think it over. _Love? I couldn't possibly be in love with the Ferret, I mean he's attractive, and brave in his own way, and definitely intelligent, but he's so dark and confusing, and it still Malfoy no matter how you look at it…_

"I wouldn't say love, but something heading towards that direction it seems."

It was with tired resignation that Hermione finally fell onto her bed fifteen minutes later. Her entire night had been a roller coaster of emotion and information. And she was quite happy to be able to escape reality for a few hours.

The next day dawned bright and early for the students, sunlight shining in through half shielded windows and four poster beds. Hermione found herself not wanting to escape the warm confines of her bed. Wrapped around her blankets and sheets she was quite comfortable thank you very much. Her pillow was feeling perfect, and she didn't hear the sound of Lavender or Parvati giggling or otherwise rushing around primping themselves for the coming day. It was only with the knowledge of the wonderful Hogwarts breakfast that Hermione pulled herself up to her feet. Her mind running over all the things she had to do today. As she showered and dressed, (making sure to brush her teeth for five minutes exactly.) her mind was abuzz with thoughts of what the day was going to bring. Especially in her afternoon free period she was now going to spend with Madam Pomphrey.

Hermione was thinking of all the spells and incantations, potions and elixirs she was likely to be learning about when it came to learning how to properly diagnose and treat someone.

Walking down into the common room she was met by a sleepy looking Ron and Harry, and Ginny looking the most refreshed out of the three.

"Morning Hermione, sleep well." The female Weasley asked.

"Just fine all things considering." Her three friends gave her a meaningful glance before smiling at her. Though for the boys they seemed rather forced.

"Shall we head to breakfast?" Ginny asked trying to break the slight tension in the air.

"Yes." Hermione said as she passed her three friends walking towards the portrait hole.

"Lets go get some breakfast before the boys get all grumpy." She flashed a quick smile at her two best friends, and just like that the tension dissolved. Hermione hoped that the boys could come to terms with her evolving feelings for Draco, without thinking anything about her personally had changed. She was still Hermione Granger, Gryffindor Witch, and Hogwarts' resident Know-It-All. And nothing would change that any time soon. Especially not some boy. _Even if he is blonde attractive and dangerous._ Hermione reminded herself with a inward smile. _Yes, I did manage to make this year much more interesting then it would have been otherwise…_

"What's going on?" Asked Hermione. The great hall was unusually silent this morning, even filled to near capacity not a voice was raised above a whisper in the hall. Harry and Ron both shook their heads, Harry looking particularly unsettled by the lack of commotion.

"Did something happen?" Asked Ron.

"I don't know, lets grab our seats and ask Ginny what's going on."

The three sixth years made their way to their usual seats, and nearly as soon as they had sat down a newspaper was being thrust in front of them by a frazzled looking Ginny.

"Have you guys heard the news yet?" Ginny looked stressed and worried all at once. Harry grabbed the paper out of her hands and quickly gasped aloud. Hermione being on the other side of the table next to Ginny was unable to see anything from her side.

"What! What is it?" Harry turned the paper around and gave it to her, anger clearly written on his face.

**"Muggle Town Destroyed By You-Know-Who!**

** Death Eaters Start Reign of Terror."**

"WHAT!" Hermione shrieked.

"Death Eaters attacked a small town outside London, they burned it to the ground. Cowards." hissed Harry.

Hermione scanned through the paper, reading aloud as fast as she could.

" Aurors were shocked this morning when they received a call that the muggle town of Warminster was under attack by Death Eaters at four fifteen this morning. It was hinted that by the time the Ministry was made aware of these attacks, the Death Eaters had already been there for some time."

"How hard is it to Floo away! Or Portkey or send a Patronus!" said Ron.

"No one but Order members know how to use a Patronus to send messages Ron, and all other forms of communication are difficult when your being attacked. Besides, it was a muggle town." Hermione's voiced dropped to barely above a whisper.

"They wouldn't know how or who to call to report an attack by wizards."

"Keep reading." urged Harry.

" The village on the outskirts of London was on fire and Aurors report of fleeing muggles being cursed as they left their homes. Many houses were magically locked from the outside while the buildings were set on fire. It was then that the Aurors were noticed by the Death Eaters who then attacked in mass. Auror Team six led by Captain Drudgery Dills, and three of his men William Phix, Jonathan Smith, and Anthony Blair were all killed last night by the large group of Dark Wizards, it was only with this costly lost and the quick apparation of the last Auror from team six. Dolores Hinx, that news of this attacked was even made public. Hinx is in St. Mungos due to extensive burns and a case of advanced splinching. She is expected to make a full recovery."

When she finished she sat back from the table as she absorbed everything she just read.

"I can't believe they would hit something so big, and do some much damage."

"I know, its horrible." whispered Ginny.

"-ukling owards." Mumbled Ron through a bran muffin.

Hermione looked up at the Teachers table and noticed that both Dumbledore and Snape were not present at breakfast. She wondering if this was something to feel good about or not. She then looked over at the Slytherin table and noticed Draco reading the paper as well. Hermione wasn't stupid, she knew in these last few weeks Draco Malfoy's eyes had been opened to the harsher side of the world. The side of the world he had never truly thought of. But she wondering how much he had really changed because of it. There were times Hermione allowed herself to imagine he had given up all his prejudices because of what he had experienced. But now she wondered as she watches him reading the newspaper. _What does he think of all of this…Is he sadden? Horrified? Sickened? Indifferent? _

"Who are you now Draco Malfoy?" Hermione whispered.

A/N:

Sises: Yep I am alive, and yes this story is too...technically. Sorry for the long wait, but I just haven't been in the mood to write anything for this. But I figured I owed you guys something since its been over a year. So here we go. Enjoy and please review and tell your friends. Feel free to toss flaming garbage at me for making you wait this long, believe me I understand.


	19. Hogsmeade part 1

A loud pop broke the silence as air was rapidly displaced by the sudden appearance of a figure dressed in black, a skull mask and hood covered his face throwing shadows over his features.

Draco paused a bit to catch his breath, he never did like apparating, the feeling was just too disturbing to ever get used too. He looked around at his location and noticed that he seemed to be at an old abandoned farm house. What looked to be an old wheat field long in disuse stood before him, and off in the distance a small house situated next to a large barn. Draco only sighed to himself as he started his trek across the field. His Mark still burning faintly.

_What could the Dark Lord want now? Hasn't he caused enough damage to last through summer at the very least?_ Draco was thinking of the attack on Warminster that had taken place two weeks ago. Today was June 10th tomorrow was the last day of school for Hogwarts, this time next evening Draco would probably be nearing London on the Hogwarts express.

_And of course I am called to a bloody meeting tonight, can't get a decent nights sleep around here, not allowed to just sit back and enjoy myself or my accomplishments now can I?_ Draco had until he felt the burn on his arm, been lazing around the Slytherin common room, enjoying the relaxing afterglow of having finish all his exams. He was rather proud of the work he had done, feeling quite confidant that he scored high marks in most of his classes. Perhaps even the highest in some of them. _Now I wonder…_Draco ran through a mental checklist of all his classmates, most of them were mediocre at best, but even he had to admit some of them were skilled at one subject at least.

_Saint Potter probably beat me at Defense Against the Dark Arts, which with the situation is probably a good thing…  
Granger probably got top marks in Transfiguration, she always was a smudge better than me in that class…  
Herbology is the only class Longbottom would excel at, so he can have that grade…  
Charms…hmm I might of beaten the Know-It-All in that one, unless Boot managed to pass me up the bloody bookworm…  
Lets see, Arithmancy is a toss up, either Granger or myself.  
Potions is also a coin flip, unless Snape decided to be a total arse and deduct points from Granger on account of her house or her hair, or her single mindedness towards education and excellence, or her tendency to consume oxygen...  
_Draco found himself frowning…he couldn't think of a single class he no doubt stole from his fellow classmates. All he could figure was maybe first or maybe second. With a good amount of them being second place. _I must be loosing my touch…_He thought as he made his way up to the farm house and proceeded to open the door. He felt his Dark Mark burn ever so painfully before fading away to nothing, he heard a click and the door opened.

_Oh that's right, I've had my extra curricular's to deal with…_

Draco steeped into the farm house and immediately knew he was in the right place. Gone were the usual signs of this being a home, furniture and house accessories, pictures on the wall. Even some of the walls had been removed. The entire house had been gutted and all that remained was a large open space with broken furniture pushed up against the walls. The Death Eaters were all gathered in their usual circle. Draco hoped someone had the foresight to make sure magic was holding the structure of the house together. He didn't like the idea of the house coming down on his head tonight.

Draco stepped inside and took his place in the circle, next to his father and Crabbe senior.

In the middle of the circle stood the Dark Lord, draped as always in his loose black robe. He wasn't saying anything just staring at everyone as he rotated on the spot. His snake Nagini was outside of the circle next to the fireplace, the only source of light for the entire house. Draco forced himself to stand still and silent.

Minutes passed, quietly broken only by the arrival of three more Death Eaters. Once the last man had arrived Voldemort finally stopped staring at his followers.

"My Death Eaters, how happy I am to see so many of you here tonight, no doubt you have been reviling in our recent victory against the Muggles of Warminster?" Several of the cloaked figures chuckled, Draco managed to put a smile on his face.

"Yes it was a rousing success…we…did loose a few of our member…Travers and Rowel…but they were weak and loosing them only makes us stronger. Particularly if they can manage to bring a few Aurors down with them." The strained laughter came again. The Dark Lord managed to put a perverse smile on his face, to Draco it looked like it had taken a large amount of effort on his part.

"Now if I recall, tonight is the last night that the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will spend in the castle before they go home for the summer holidays…Is that right young Draco, Severus?"

"Yes My Lord."

"Y-yes My Lord."

Voldemort smiled more easily this time.

"Good, and now my friends, Severus here has came up with a plan to give our young witches and wizards a going away present to fondly remember us as they leave for the summer…" Draco felt his insides turn to ice. _What?_

He saw a figure step out of the circle, indistinguishable from all the others, it wasn't until he spoke that Draco could tell this was his Potions Master.

"I believe that Dumbledore is starting to fear our latest tactics, he fears we are loosing our touch and now only attack on the whims of a madman." Severus stopped and bowed his head in reverence to the Dark Lord. Voldemort only waved his hands at him.

"But we know of your Lords genius…I…I proposed that we give the beloved Headmaster a going away present to be proud of. The destruction of Hogsmeade village."

Their were whispers of delight and awe in the group. Draco did his best to not appear sick._ What the hell am I supposed to do? Snape is supposed to be the one I report to, he is supposed to be the expert here. He's the one planning the fucking attack!_ Draco felt his heart start to beat faster. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Dark Lord's gaze turn to his. Like the rays of the sun he felt the burn on his face.

"How do these plans work for you Draco? Not an inconvenience to your shopping plans next year are they?" Several of his fellows laughed at the obvious mockery the Dark Lord was making of him. Snape turned to look at their Master.

"If we may continue My Lord?"

Draco saw what looked to be a frown on the Dark Lords face as he turned away from him.

"Do not stop me from having my fun Severus, I will do as I please."

"Yes, of course my Lord."

"…But yes, lets continue, we have a long night ahead of us. Let us hurry ahead to the festivities…"

Professor Snape turned to look at Draco before moving his gaze on to the others in the circle.

"Tonight all of us will mount an attack on Hogsmeade, we need to show the Ministry the Wizarding world and Albus Dumbledore especially that we are taking this war seriously. That we will not accept surrender, and that those who do not support the Dark Lord appose him. there are no innocents in this fight." Snape paused in his speech. His quiet voice barely above a whisper.

"Even those living quietly in a small little village."

Many of the Death Eaters cheered at that, Bellatrix being one of the loudest. Draco merely stood still not saying a word, and he noticed that he wasn't the only one. _Are there others who think this idea is just plain mad? We're going to destroy the only pure wizarding village left in Britain._

The commotion came to a sudden stop when the Dark Lord raised his hand. Silence enveloped the group so fast it might have come from a spell.

"My friends…" He hissed.

"Tonight shall be an enjoyable night for many of you I'm sure. But we cannot forget our goals, to send a message of fear into the hears of those who might oppose us. To show our strength and tenacity."

"I regrettably will not be able to join in the fun, as I have other things to take care of…But I do hope you will enjoy yourselves in my stead hmm?" Voldemort then turned so abruptly that his cloak flew into the air, he strode out of the circle to the far wall of the gutted house,

"Now I want you to work in groups tonight, we cannot have any of the usual random attacks you are so fond of. Being so close to Hogwarts Dumbledore is likely to hear of our activities very quickly. Expect Aurors and members of the Order of the Phoenix to attack within minutes…" No one said a thing, it was so quiet Draco could hear his heart hammering against his chest.

"Now Bellatrix, Severus, Lucius, Antonin, You will be heading your individual teams. Stand here." Voldemort waved his hand lightly through the air gesturing to the floor in front of him. The Death Eaters moved as one, the circle breaking up immediately. Draco watched as his father, aunt, teacher, and then Dolohov all walked forward to take their places. The rest of the Death Eaters stood to the side and watched as the Dark Lord started to pace in front of his four most trusted Death Eaters.

"Hmm yes. Now I do not need to say what trust I am placing in you four for this fight. Success and failure will be solely on you four tonight…But I don't believe any of you will fail me will you?" He took a moment to glare at the four people in front of him. All but Professor Snape lowered their head to look at the floor. Voldemort then moved back to the wall to face all four of them, he then glanced at each one in turn.

"Hmm yes…Now Bellatrix we do all love your blood lust, I hope tonight will be fun for you?"

"Of course my Dark Lord." Draco didn't want to imagine the look of pleasure on his Aunt's face. He was having trouble keeping his breathing normal.

"And you Severus, our trusted spy in Hogwarts, and the Order itself. What do you think Dumbledore will have in store for us?" Snape voice rose out loud and clear, his gaze never left his master's.

"I believe Dumbledore will have wards alerting him to our presence as soon as we apparate inside the village. Thankfully since one cannot disapparate inside Hogwarts it will take some time for him and any of the teachers to meet us in Hogsmeade. However…" Severus shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

" Aurors stationed in the village, and any members of the Order of the Phoenix he might have in the area will be quick to respond and call for help. Particularly the Order members with their ability to send messages over a great distance. I expect we will face resistance almost immediately." Some slight murmuring could be heard in the crowds of Death Eaters at this. Draco was trying to not imagine a full squad of Order members and Aurors and Hit Wizards there to greet him with spells on their lips. He tried not to imagine what would happen if he was captured by the Ministry tonight.

"Well then I suggest we work fast then, hmm Severus? Make good use of your own specially created curses…" Voldemort then moved onto the last two.

"Lucius…dear Lucius. You have gone up and down in my favor these last few years. You were once one of my favorites, then you failed me in so many ways, but you have done some great things for me lately Lucius. Not least of which is giving me your son while he is still in Hogwarts…yes. You have earned your place here tonight Lucius. Do not disappoint me." Draco watched as his father lowered his head, but say nothing.

"And dear Antonin…Well what do we need say about your particular brand of justice. I hope to hear about the muggles and mudbloods you show your own particular curse too Antonin. I hope you make them scream." Dolohov chuckled darkly.

"Yes my Lord, of course."

Voldemort smiled.

"Now the rest of you…hmm, where shall I have you. I think it would be best for my captains shall we call them? To choose their own people. Go on. Quickly." The four Death Eaters turned and starting calling out names at once.

"Gibbon! Yaxley!" Called Bellatrix loudly, while Snape's call of " Rodolphus and Rabastan." was barely heard amongst the chatter.

"Nott, Selwyn, and Draco of course." Draco let out a sigh at having his father call on him. He stepped forward to join in his fathers group.

"Jugson and Goyle! Crabbe! You too Nott!" Dolohov it seemed to Draco was particularly eager to take the largest and most intimidating of the inner circle. The calling died down for a bit as the four leaders seemed to decide who else they wanted in their party.

"Mulciber and you too Avery." Bellatrix decided at last.

" Pettigrew, Rockwood." Came Snape's call again.

"Macnair and how about Amycus." said Lucius.

"Then I'll take Alecto." Growled Dolohov.

Draco quickly looked around at the group he was in. His father, himself Nott and Selwyn, Walden Mcnair and Amycus. He knew Nott of course, being the father of his fellow Slytherin Theo. And he thought he recognized Mcnair from somewhere else as well. Amycus and Selwyn though he had only heard of through rumors. Selwyn was known to target children in his torture. While Amycus like to catch his victims on fire and then use the cruciatus curse. Draco tried not to think of the horror he was about to be a part of.

_What am I supposed to do?_

By the time the last of the groups had been formed, they turned slowly to all face Voldemort.

"Well I bid you all…good luck." The smile on the Dark Lords face made Draco shiver noticeably. He prayed no one was paying attention to him.

"I look forward to reading the morning papers. And it goes without saying rewards will be given if you bring down certain people. Dumbledore and Harry Potter will be prime individuals. But any of those Order members will earn my favor, as would be some of those Ministry fools. Now get out." and with that the Death Eaters as one turned on the spot and disapparated.

Draco found himself in the middle a sea of black cloaks. The simultaneous apparation of so many people in such a small space create not a pop but a tremendous boom of sound and displaced air that not only rattled the windows of the nearby buildings but stole the air from Draco's lungs. Then before he could fully catch his breath again he heard dozens of voices shout out curses. Even behind his closed eyelids Draco saw flashes of color fly through the night sky. Explosions came from nearby buildings as Bellatrix's loud cackling was heard through the night. It didn't take long for the screams to start.

Hermione felt a yawn try and escape her mouth. Covering her face with her palm she tried to force it back, but was unsuccessful. Ron and Harry both looked up from their seats by the fire in the Gryffindor common room.

"Wow Hermione being the first one to let out a yawn, I guess that means we can call it a night then can't we?" Chuckled Ron. Harry gave Hermione a smile that lit up his face, and Hermione couldn't stop from smiling back.

"Oh fine if you boys are tired I guess we can head to bed. I just wanted to enjoy a peaceful night in the castle before we leave tomorrow."

"Yeah." Agreed Harry.

"To think we won't be back here until September. I never did like leaving Hogwarts." Ron and Hermione shared a look. They both knew how horrible Harry's relatives were but didn't know how they could do anything to help.

"Hey at least you only have to stay until your birthday right? I mean then you'll be seventeen and you can do whatever you want!" said Ron.

"That's right!" replied Hermione.

"I didn't even think of that Ron, brilliant! We can throw a big party for you at The Burrow Harry!"

"You guys don't have to go to all that trouble just for me-" started Harry before he was interrupted.

"-all that trouble for what?" Came Ginny's voice from the girl's staircase.

"Ginny!" Cried all three sixth years.

"That's my name!" Answered Ginny, causing the boys to laugh and Hermione to smile.

"We were just deciding we all need to throw Harry a big party for his seventeenth, it'll be both his coming of age party and his say goodbye to the Dursley's party." Ginny gave a smile as she bounded across the room towards the three Gryffindors. Stopping for the briefest second she looked at the three of them, before planting herself straight in Harry's lap.

"Oi! Do I really need to be seeing that just now?" Complained Ron.

"I think we _need_ to throw a huge party for Harry." Said Ginny, ignoring Ron.

"We can have the twins help for the entertainment, and mum will want to bake the cake and make all the food. We can invite all our friends from Hogwarts, and the entire Order too!"

"It would be nice to have Remus and Tonks, and Mad-Eye there." Answered Harry.

"Just no Snape." Answered Ron. They all laughed.

"Or Malfoy." Added Harry after a moment. Hermione stopped laughing and the others at once all stared at her.

"Er, well. I mean. Well _you_ can invite him if you want Hermione. I mean everyone is allowed to bring a guest of course-"

"-Harry! Its alright, I know you wouldn't want Draco at your birthday party, I _know_ he wouldn't want to be there. Can you imagine Draco at Harry Potter's birthday party at The Burrow home of the Weasley's? With half the Order surrounding him, who most were Gryffindors?" Hermione smiled.

"I don't think I could think up a worse punishment for him if I tried." The Gryffindors started laughing again. And it was during this that Hermione remembered something she had nearly forgot. _I'm going home tomorrow. And Draco's coming with me…We're going to spend the summer at my parents house. Me and Draco Malfoy together for the whole summer. Draco Malfoy spending his entire summer with Muggles._ The entire idea made Hermione crack up laughing. Her hands moved to her sides as they started to ache and the others turned to look at her as she rocked back and forth in her chair.

"What's so funny Hermione?"

"Yeah spill it, what is it?"

Hermione couldn't answer for her laughing, her attempted sentences were spluttering all over the place as her body was wracked with spasms.

"I-Just…I-I-I was just…" Eventually Hermione managed to convey the general thought process she had been thinking. But it had taken so long most of the humor had been lost in the poor translation. Harry and Ron gave half hearted chuckles while Ginny just flashed her a smile.

"Hey all this tittering reminded me of why I came down here, you guys up for a midnight run to the kitchens?" Asked Ginny. All three sixth years quickly agreed and with a few seconds hesitation of whether they should take Harry's map 'yes.' and wondering if they needed the cloak 'no.' They were off.

Climbing out the hole in the wall that was the entrance to the kitchens, Hermione tried not to drop the small armload of pastries she had balanced against her chest.

"Hurry up you three, it may be our last night here, but with our luck Snape is standing next to the Fat Lady just waiting for straggling Gryffindor to come in after curfew." Hissed Hermione. Slowly Harry, Ron, and Ginny came out of the kitchens, all carrying various assortments of foods. The four Gryffindors walked away amidst the cheerful farewells of the school house elves.

"I love those little buggers, always so ready to please and hand out food."

"Ron, don't forget that they are conditioned to please, they are no better than slaves, brought up like their parents and their parents before them to-

"Give it a rest Hermione!."

"Stuff it Granger!" Everyone turned to look at Ginny who had just done a very decent impersonation of Draco Malfoy's patented drawl.

"That actually wasn't half bad Ginny." said Hermione with a smile on her face.

"Yeah if I didn't know it was Hermione mooning after ol' ferret face I would be wondering about you." replied Ron.

Hermione was just about to chastise Ron for insulting Draco needlessly when Harry hissed for everyone to be silent.

"Did you three see that?" Harry was pointing off towards a main corridor that lead towards the rest of the Castle.

"What did you see Harry?"

"I- I thought I saw-" But Harry didn't get to finish his sentence before they all saw a streak of white substance fly through the air down the corridor.

"What was that?" asked Ginny.

"It looked almost like a ghost." answered Ron perplexed.

"It wasn't a ghost." Said Harry.

"It was a Patronus!" answered Hermione. No one said anything.

"It was a Patronus, and I think it was sending a message, you know like the Order does."

"You mean the order just sent someone a message?"

"Probably Dumbledore."

"And it must be important if they sent two of them."

"Three." Said Harry as he pointed again towards the far wall where another bit of flying silvery mist had just disappeared around the corner.

"I think this is important." Harry said. "If Dumbledore is getting three messages at once at this time of night, then its something big. Come on!"

The four Gryffindors then dropped their assortments of late night snacks and all took off running down the corridor, all traces of laughter and exhaustion suddenly gone.

Hermione quickly fell behind her two friends, as their longer stride and quidditch strengthened muscles pushed them ahead. Rounding the corner they sped down the hallway. Hermione realized that they seemed to be heading to the teachers lounge just off from the Great Hall.

The four Gryffindor's ran through the dark deserted hallways of Hogwarts, the only sounds were their heavy footfalls against the stone floor, echoing all around them.

They quickly found themselves in the main hallway off from the Great Hall, the door to the teacher's lounge just in sight.

Slowing down the four of them came to a stop just before the door and Harry was just about to open the door when they heard a loud shrill voice just a few meters away that made them all jump.

"What are you three doing here?" Before them stood Professor McGonagall not dressed for bed as one would expect so late at night. The four students stopped and were about to blurt out excuses when the Gryffindor Matron sighed and shook her head.

"Please, like it needs to be asked, why is it always you three that show up at times like this?" she asked, gesturing to the three oldest students.

"Though I see you've only brought miss Weasley here with you this time instead of half the sixth year Gryffindors, thank Merlin for small favors."

"Professor? What is going on we saw three Patronus charms coming this way-

"-And we thought someone must be sending a message to Dumbledore and-

"-That is must be something important if he is getting three urgent messages right after another -

"- so we came to investigate." finished Ginny. McGonagall only stared at the three of them before sighing once again.

"You three follow me, miss Weasley you need to go to bed this instant."

"Professor that isn't going to happe-

"-Now miss Weasley!"

"No!" Ginny fixed her head of house with a glare.

"My entire family is in the Order Professor, most of my friends are old enough to fight. I myself have fought Death Eaters, I am not going to go back to bed just because you might threaten me with detention." Hermione didn't know if she should feel awe that Ginny had stood up to their stern head of house so aggressively, or berate her for such disrespectful treatment. Deciding to think about it later she thought it best to stay focused on the situation at hand.

"Very well, follow me quickly now, we have wasted enough time as it is."

"Professor what is going on exactly? What happened?"

McGonagall didn't say anything as the five of them moved through the same hallways Hermione had just been sprinting through seconds ago.

"Hogsmeade village is under attack by Death Eaters." Hermione and Ginny gasped, Ron let out a small curse. Harry was mainly silent, though Hermione could feel his anger radiating off him in waves of heat.

" We only just found out from some of the patrols we have stationed in the village. Dumbledore has left to rouse the rest of the Order and I am here to get the teachers and whatever students are old enough to join us in defending the village."

"Why would they attack the village that doesn't make sense? You-Know-Who is all about magical supremecy, how does that fit with attacking a magical community?" Asked Ron in a surprising burst of insight.

"Dumbledore believes that Voldemort is no longer the intelligent brillant man he once was long ago, his experiments, death and renewal seem to have affected his thinking his rationalities.

"You think he's insane? I mean literally insane?"

"Yes progressively so, it is possible he is no longer able to perceive reality in the same way most of us are. We are not just dealing with a dangerous dark wizard who wants to rule over muggleborns, but a man so far removed from reality he has lost sight of his own goals."

"An attack on a wizarding village would only cause fear and hate in the community, something like that isn't cohesive to his goals of united the magical people toegether. This new style of his is more dangerous then ever, with any luck his own madness will work in our favor by causing doubt amongst his followers."

"You think he might end up destroying himself Professor?" Harry asked. Hermione tried to detect any underlying note of hope or panic or desperation in his voice. But the anger Harry was keeping inside him was all she could decipher.

"We can only hope Mr. Potter, we can only hope."

Their conversation had brought them all the way to the school entrance where Hermione notice Professor Filtwick and Sprout were standing at the doors, along with Victor the Arithmancy Professor, and Burbage the Muggle Studies Professor. Along with the heads of houses were a few students from seventh year.

"I see you brought your favorites Minerva." Squeaked Flitwick.

"Brought is the wrong term Filius, they merely showed up as I was coming here to meet you, and like any true Gryffindor would not say no to doing the right thing." McGonagall glanced over at Ginny.

"No matter the age."

"Well I certainly disagree that anyone underage should be allowed to participate in this fight." began the Charms Professor.

"But Voldemort would come for each and everyone of them eventually, and we do not have time. Where is Albus?"

"Getting some help, we need to proceed to the village quickly, Hagrid should already be there, have you called the carriages Pamona?"

"Of course." Answered the head of Hufflepuff, usually joyful and bright, she had a strange pallor to her face Hermione didn't like.

"They let us go."

Draco felt lost and confused in all the chaos. Almost as soon as people's feet were on the ground they were casting curse after curse. Draco managed to appear as if he was joining in by catching a lone tree on fire, an act Crabbe senior seemed to enjoy as he seemed to be doing nothing more than starting random fires throughout the village. Draco didn't know what to do. He watched as a family ran screaming from their house only to be cursed before they made it across the road. He watched as screaming Death Eaters dueled with a few brave individuals trying to defend their home.

_This isn't right!_ his mind screamed at him. Nothing about this made any sense to Draco. Things seemed to get even worse as the minutes wore on. Draco decided his best course of action was to leave, turning around he quickly walked away from the main attack group and tried to get lost in the hills and small groupings of houses. He quickly came around a bend and after hoping over a small fence found himself near the back wall of the Three Broom Sticks. Quickly following the wall towards the main road Draco was about to head off towards the direction of the Shrieking Shack when he heard the sound of a door flying open and colliding with the wall. Out of the Three Broom Sticks came Madam Rosmerta, the famous owner of the bar. Draco watched as she marched off wand in hand with a few odd looking people behind her. Obviously patrons from the bar.

"Damn Death Eaters think they can take our village from us, lets teach them a thing or two gents!" Her followers perhaps filled with pride, or as Draco guesses it more than a few pints of alcohol, clumsily but bravely followed her as she ran off towards the battle.

"This is insane." said Draco to himself. "This is just stupid, what is the point of this?" Draco looked on after the small group of half drunk freedom fighters that were no doubt going off to their deaths and something switched on with Draco. He felt compelled to do something. He knew as a Death Eater he should be going off to kill them, or at least set their hair on fire or something sinister like that. As a Slytherin he should just apparate out of the place, as nothing good could come of him staying around longer. But another part of him wanted to go out and do something productive. Nothing so far fetched as to attack his fellow Dark Wizards, but perhaps something a bit more subtle.

"I am something of a spy for the Order...maybe there is something I can do." Draco took a few deep breaths to calm himself before running off in the direction he saw the Three Broom Sticks occupants go. It wasn't long until the distant sounds of spells being cast and minor explosions became much louder. Coming around a corner of a house Draco saw that it seemed the Ministry or perhaps the Order had finally arrived as he saw several wizards in purple robes and blue robes dueling the skull masked ones in black.

Draco spied what looked to be an innocent villager making an escape from behind a burning building. Draco pulled his wand out.

"Stupify!" A red bolt shot out of the end of his wand and hit the man as he was running. The force of the spell knocked him off his feet and sent him flying a few feet in the air only to come crashing to the ground in a small heap. Draco spared him barely more then a glance before running off and stunning another person, and then another.

_Maybe I can't do anything to protect these people directly, but I can at least stun them and hopefully they'll be assumed dead by the others ..._it was difficult work dodging the duels and finding lone targets to stun. Once or twice an Auror or Hit wizard thought him to be a good target and shot a few stunning spells, or rope charms his way. It was only with his quick reflexes that he was able to dodge them.

Draco was lining up his next target when he felt himself being shoved aside. Another Death Eater had pushed past him as he too raised his wand at the white hair man defending his home.

"Sectumsempra!" The man hissed loudly. Draco expected to see the man double over in pain or be cast in the bright light of the curse, but nearly as soon as the Death Eater had cast his spell, another dark robed follower had stumbled into the path of the spell, and it was him who shouted out in horrific pain.

"Ah! My arm! ARGGH! YOu- my -" Draco felt his knee's go weak when he saw the man clutch the remains his arm which had been severed at the elbow. Dark ribbons of blood were gushing out of the thorn limb and the man quickly fell to his knee's shrieking.

"Stupid fool." Hissed the caster, causing Draco to look up in surprise. He couldn't quite tell with the hood up, but the voice sounded quite similar to...

"Snape you- you cut off my arm." cried the wounded Death Eater.

"You shouldn't of gotten in my way Yaxly, you should of known to look where you were going." Snape said, his voice as cold as ever.

"Help me, please! stop the- the-bleed-the pain, my arm..."

"I don't think so Yaxley, you see magic cannot reattach something that has been severed by my curse, it wouldn't be practical you understand."

"Please..." Yaxley moaned as his body started to lower to the ground of its own accord.

"Good-bye Yaxley..." Draco watched as Snape raised his wand once more. A cold chill spread throughout his body.

"Avada Kedavra." A burst of green light lit Yaxley's weakened body up before receding and Yaxley fully crumpled into the ground. Draco stood still as if stunned himself. Snape quickly turned and as if knowing he was there turned to look at him.

"Two more lessons for you to learn Draco, one do not be so careless. and two, there is no point in making another person suffer, it only creates weakness and exploitability. Make your actions quick and to the point." Snape then walked past him an disappeared in the chaos of the battle. Draco felt his body go weak and he nearly fell to the ground. he dared not look at Yaxley's dead body, he already felt as if he was going to be sick. He then decided to take the words to heart and started once again to run off in the direction of the castle.

_ I can't do this...it's too much._

Ripping off his death eater's mask Draco threw it down as he ran past the dueling Aurors and Death Eaters, past the Hit Wizards and villagers. He ran until he was near the front of the small hamlet, heading off on the main road to Hogwarts. He then stopped, in front of the entrance were four school carriages stopped end to end as a sort of barricade. The doors opened as he ducked behind an overturned vending stall, and out came to his surprise several members of Hogwarts staff. Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout among a few others, he even noticed what looked to be students and...  
_Of course!_ Draco saw them. Potter, Weasley and Gr-Hermione.

"What are they doing here!" But he knew of course. The school and therefore Dumbledore and the entire Order must know of the attack. Which means reinforcements were on their way if not there already. And of course those three would join in the defense. Draco didn't know if he found their bravery commendable or stupid, but as now was not the time to think of such things Draco pushed the thoughts aside. Now was the time to take action. And the action Draco wanted to take was divert his ideas to someone else.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do." he hissed to himself. Draco watched as his teachers and classmates entered the fray. Potter seemed to come alive as he ducked and dodged around spells casting shield charms and stunning spells with a level of skill even Draco had to admit (at least to himself) was very good. Weasley was less fluid but his aim seemed to be pretty good and more then a few times he seemed to use his large frame to his advantage by grabbing a distracted Death Eater around the neck and stunning them at point blank range. Hermione was something else entirely Draco noted. She was fluid and determined, the look on her face was the same she had when she was studying or paying attention to a difficult lesson. _She's focused._ He thought to himself.  
She cast a variety of spells at her targets, not just stunning spells like the two men, but a whole cacophony of defensive and offensive spells. Draco was just about to get up and move to another location when he heard a roar that reminded him not just a little of watch a Dragon try and devour something from his fourth year. Coming out of the darkness like a freight train was something large and loud, its footsteps were shaking the ground like small earthquakes.

" YER BUNCH O' COWARDS!" Charging through the crowd of wizards was none other than Hagrid, using his large frame to steam roll through many of the combatants. Draco watched in amazement his jaw nearly hanging open as several spells seemed to just bounce off of Hagrid's large bulk, due no doubt to the giant blood he had in him. Forgoing any sort of magical attack, Hagrid started batting Death Eaters down like large flies. One brave Death Eater snuck around the half giant and cast a killing curse at the back of his head. The bright flash illuminated the night for a brief moment and Draco saw the large man fall to his knee's. _Hagrid..._  
Suddenly though he was back on his feet, he turned around and with a roar slammed his closed fisted hands together across the dark wizards head, there was a sound like crumbling metal and the man collapsed, his head oddly shaped. Hagrid got to his feet shakily, his massive body swaying dangerously from side to side. And suddenly he took off again slamming his way through any and everything that was in his path, scattering wizards around like rag doll toys. _This is insane it's completely fucked up._ Deciding that he had enough Draco bolted from his hiding place and ran across the battle strewn street, he made it across with only a few casting of a shield charm, and was about to make all haste when a robed figure stepped in front of him. The lateness of the night didn't provide enough light for him to tell who his attacker might be, but he got a glint of long hair and slender body as a spell was cast his way, so he assumed female. Casting a quick shield charm Draco sent a stupify towards his attacker who blocked instinctively and sent a bolt of blue light towards him. Back and forth the two dueled each other as neither one of them gave ground.  
Draco though was tired, and he knew the longer he participated in this battle the more he would be worn down and the greater chance he risked of being arrested or killed. Dodging his attacker again Draco turned and ran before another spell was cast. He turned and ran around the front of the building he was next too and took off for the carriages he had seen blocking the road. Draco had just decided to sneak his way through the front of the carriages where no animals but a spell kept them traveling when he stopped at the sight of what looked to be winged horses barring his path.  
"Son of a bitch, the stupid oaf had to be telling me something important in his sodding class didn't he." For Draco now remembered last year how Hagrid had explained to his class about Thestrals, the winged horses who pulled the carriages' and were only visible to a select few unlucky individuals. Draco now saw the genius in the blockade idea, it looked like it would only divert traffic through the openings between the black cars, but if one was able to see the animals strapped together they would then see that the entire road from house to house was blocked from escaping.

Draco turned around and was blasted back when a spell drifted just past where his shoulder had been and exploded against the nearest carriages. He fell to the ground and not wanting to be defeated or killed so easily quickly forced himself up to his feet, the motion threw his hood off his face and exposed his face to the cold night air. Draco raised his wand and was about to try and stun his female attacker when she of all things lowered her wand.

"Draco?" Hermione said.

_Granger?_  
"What are you doing here!" she asked.

"I could be asking you the same question!" Roared Draco.

"You almost took my head off with that damn spell."  
"I thought you were a Death Eater!" She yelled back.

"I am a Death Eater Granger! See the black robes! Check out the tattoo! Remember my last name!" Draco had had enough of this night he was done, he nearly threw his wand on the ground in frustration.

"I am so sick of this, I don't want to do this anymore! I can't, this is just...I'm done!" Hermione walked closer to him and reached out a hand to touch his shoulder. Draco roughly pushed it away.

"Don't even think of comforting me Granger, my pride is already wounded enough without-  
"-Shut up Draco! Come on, lets get out of here." And out of all the things that had surprised Draco tonight the most surprising was that Hermione Granger just took hold of his hand like it was nothing and started to lead him out of the town, as if they were on a date and not in the midst of a war.

Hermione couldn't believe the level of ferocity and carnage that Hogsmeade was enveloped in. She had fought Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries, but this was something else. There was no coordination to this attack only destruction and death. Hermione had watched as her teachers battle just as ferociously as the wizards they fought against. She watched little Professor Flitwick levitate a Death Eater forty feet in the air and drop him. She watched her mentor Professor McGonagall send another man flying through the window of a house. She tried to fight with the same level of determination, the same zeal. But all she could help thinking about was how pointless all this was, how it didn't even make sense from a Death Eaters perspective.

Hermione felt almost relieved when she saw that her attacker had been Draco after all. She didn't relish the thought of having to attack another person, or the thought that she might have to kill to protect herself. And though he would never admit it, Hermione saw the same feelings in Draco's eyes, she saw the fear and the uncertainty in his own eyes that she felt. The only difference was Hermione's bravery was keeping her from being overwhelmed, while Draco was near panicking. But what kept Hermione calm was the same thing that made her stay and fight. _Duty. I don't want to be here anymore, I want to help...but I'm tired of fighting, I'm tired of the pointlessness...the pain and suffering. But Harry and Ron and Ginny, Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, Hagrid...I can't leave them to fight while I go and hide..._Draco on the other hand seemed like he had been trying to escape all along, and that gave her an idea. an escape, a way out.

Hermione lead him past some of the houses that were thankfully still in one piece, leading him down alleyways and through closed back yards that were untouched by the fight going on only yards away. Around the back towards a small patch of tree's she took him hand in hand, until the sounds of the battle were so faint they could barely hear them.

Hermione stopped and before she could rethink her idea turned suddenly and enveloped Draco in a hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding as tight as she could.

"Granger wha-"

"-I'm so glad you're alright Draco." For a second nothing happened, then Draco's arms wrapped themselves around her as well.  
"I'm glad I'm ok too Hermione." Hermione chuckled, and then smiled at the use of her given name, something he rarely did. They stayed like that for a bit, neither of them moving, just taking solace in each others company.

"What are we going to do?" She asked.

"We...?" Hermione smiled into his neck, it felt very warm against the cold night air.

"Of course Draco, we're in this together." Hermione moved back away from him, her arms now held loosely against his shoulders as she leaned back to look him in the eye.

"I-I wont walk away from you Draco. I won't leave you. If you don't want me too."

She watched as Draco swallowed, his eyes darting all around her face as several things passed through it.

"I-I...I don't know what I want anymore, I don't know where I belong, or what I should do. I'm lost..." he admitted, his face cast down to stare at the ground.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you Draco, these last few months must have been beyond overwhelming for you."

Draco said nothing.

"So why don't you let me help you, I want to help you Draco."

"Why?" And that was the question, wasn't it?

"Because I care about you." Hermione admitted, not lowering her gaze but keeping it on his face. Draco raised his eyes and caught her's again.

"Still think we're star crossed lovers destined to be together because of the marks on our chests?" Draco asked, but with much less of a sneer in his voice as the time before.

"I don't know...But I don't think it matters why I care, just that I do." They were both silent after this.

The battle seemed to be growing fainter and fainter as they sat there, just standing next to each other. Both of them gaining some measure of strength from the other. Hermione was about to say something again when she heard a branch snapping in the night. As one they both turned and lifted their wands in the direction it came from. Like a ghost a Death Eater emerged from the shadows, his mask was still in place hiding his features and his wand was raised pointed at the two of them. He reached up with his free hand and removed the mask from his face, he threw his hood back and his mask to the ground at the same time. Releasing his long blonde hair down past his shoulders. The regal face of Lucius Malfoy stared over at the two teenagers across from him.

"Hello Miss Granger, Draco." He nodded to them both as he addressed them. "Wonderful evening we are having tonight, isn't it?"

A/N: hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long, but half the reason is because I had a lot to tell in this chapter, More then I expected as I had to separate it into two parts. But here you go a nice long chapter to hopefully make you less angry that its been months since my last update. I hope you all enjoy it, please leave me a review and let me know what you think.


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